Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
This hotch-potch musical with disappointingly broad characters, jarring over-acting and lack of emotional impact falls flat

This tale about a town whose grownups mysteriously disappear plays on the concept of children “Home Alone” but with added scares and a climate message. All the elements of an appealing children’s show are in this adaptation of Tom Fletcher’s book, from puppetry to song and dance, yet it fails to create magic.

Under Tom Jackson Greaves’s direction, the story is too slow to set off, with the Creakers – rubbish-loving monsters, of sorts – not emerging in fullness until the end of the first act. When they do reveal themselves they are an interesting mix of the cuddly and grotesque, but not characterful enough.