Somewhat eclipsed in terms of popularity by his contemporary Noël Coward, Ivor Novello’s works get far less exposure than his name would suggest. A revival at the Finborough Theatre of one of his later plays, runaway 1940s hit Perchance To Dream, proves this to be a rather gross injustice.

Novello’s three-pronged, cross-generational musical has aged remarkably well. The story of thwarted love weaves its way across the Regency, Victorian and World War II periods in a characteristically grandiose manner, but succeeds in imparting an unexpectedly intricate moral, which is rather modern in tone. All three acts are set in Huntersmoon, the ancestral home of the Fayre/Rodney clan, and mirror each other’s plots, providing contrasting portraits of tangled domestic romances over a 115-year stretch.

In 1818, when the narrative begins, the swashbuckling miscreant Sir Graham Rodney is the heir to the family estate, much to the chagrin of his comme-il-faux aunt, Lady Charlotte Fayre – or ‘Chatty’ as Sir Graham irreverently refers to her. Sir Graham, whilst bragging about his virile masculinity to his entourage, accepts a wager to seduce his soon to be 21-year-old cousin, Melinda Fayre, temporarily residing at the Huntersmoon. What follows is a tale of tortured infatuation, which repeats itself in the lives of the characters’ descendants in the following acts. The entire chronicle is related with consistently witty dialogue, which although never quite reaching Wildean standards, is always engaging and often laugh-out-loud funny.

Surprisingly, for a playwright famed for his musical prowess, it is the compositions which have not stood the test of time. Novello gets a lot of mileage out of the one truly memorable melody, ‘We’ll Gather Lilacs’, and, with the possible exception of ‘Love Is My Reason’ in the first act, the rest of the numbers are wholly forgettable. The company’s immaculate renditions make the tunes work well as a live performance, but they won’t be making their way onto many iPods in a hurry.

It is the expertise of the production rather than the source material which accounts for the success of this staging. The central performances (by James Russell as Sir Graham Rodney/Valentine Fayre/Bay and Annabel Leventon as Lady Charlotte Fayre) are delightful. Russell, who previously played the role of Valentine Brown in J.M. Barrie’s Quality Street at the Finborough, is particularly enchanting, portraying Sir Graham as a cross between a blathering Boris Johnson and a ‘come-hither’ Byronic hero. The rest of the 15-strong cast constantly impress with their versatility, and execute the choreographic elements skilfully given the relatively small stage.

Director Max Pappenheim, also a Literary Associate at the Finborough, utilises the cramped space well, engineering the scene changes with minimal disruption. The set is rather sparse, resulting in an increased focus on the actors – a rather refreshing quality for a musical. Despite this being an archly traditional work, it is the freshness and vitality of the performances, rather than adherence to staid conventions, which makes for an entertaining evening. This production may not run for the 1,022 shows the original did, but it offers an insight into Novello’s unique craftsmanship, even if his songs have lost colour over the years.