Pieces of String, Mercury Theatre, Colchester. Until Saturday, May 5. 01206 573948.

Since the Hired Man back in 2013, the Mercury has definitely had a checked history with new musicals.

But now they can rightly claim to a genuine proper smash hit with masses of West End potential.

Pieces of String by Gus Gowland surely must have a life after its premiere at the Colchester theatre if only for that tenor quartet which had all the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end in Act One

Although I also rather liked the ensemble closing piece, exquisitely lit, and the recurring memory of one of the characters as she recalls challenging her brother on his relationship with a fellow soldier.

It's this mixing the past with the present where Pieces of String really works.

Set across two time frames, characters from both eras mix freely and naturally on stage, cleverly setting up the premise of the past influencing the present as Jane is confronted with an unwanted truth as she clears her father's house following his death.

As Jane, Carol Starks makes the best of a rather unsympathetic character who cannot accept her son's homosexuality but then has to adjust when the sexuality of her father is discovered.

Other characters fair better such as Joel Harper-Jackson's Tom and Jane's father, Edward played by Colchester’s own Craig Mather. In a time when being gay was illegal, it's a lot easier to empathise the loss and sorrow at the heart of their relationship, which they conveyed superbly well.

To a lesser extent the mirrored relationship of Ed and Harry, again excellent performances by Andy Coxon and Gary Wood, serve up more of the same.

When it comes to the comic light relief, there's plenty to delight in thanks to Ella Dunlop's stroppy teenager Gemma, and the wonderful Marilyn Cutts, who almost steals the show with her guilty pensioner with a long held secret, Rose.

With the songs neatly sitting in between the dialogue, Pieces of String feels more like a kitchen sink drama with music, rather than an out and out musical, but that is no bad thing. All the numbers have their place and some of them are so gorgeously catchy, they'll remain in the ear days after.

But it’s the show itself which is the star turn with a great storyline that nicely rattles along, never feeling contrived and gently revealing the fall out from Rose's revelation with a very satisfying conclusion.

As well as the ridiculously talented Gus Gowland, much praise must be heaped on director Ryan McBryde, who brings some lovely touches to the piece and is thankfully back later in the year with his take on the original Essex Girl, Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, which of course was partly written in Colchester.

NEIL D'ARCY-JONES