The audience was schooled on the long history of the show, from its roots (early non-musical plays with elements of the plot, but not a lot of Dolly, or even no Dolly at all) to the signing of the ...

The production’s scale is immediately evident in the gleam of the overture as played by Nicholas Skilbeck’s lustrous, 21-piece band, the largest — by some distance — currently being heard in London.