Baltimore, 1954. With the city's teens split between the refined Squares and the rebellious Drapes, Cry-Baby, an effortlessly cool Greaser, and his Perfecto-clad gang stir up trouble and break hearts.

But Cry-Baby and its older sister Hairspray (1988 ... Arcola boss Mehmet Ergen’s staging is brisk and stripped-back but still features a cast of 17, the largest ever at this theatre.

It’s 1954. Everyone likes Ike, nobody likes communism and Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker is the coolest boy in Baltimore. He’s a bad boy with a good cause – truth, justice and the pursuit of rock and roll.

Cry-Baby isn’t really that dangerous ... At a time when fringe musicals are much rarer than they were a decade or so ago, seeing a young cast able to go full-out in an intimate space is a pleasure.