Spend Spend Spend, The Mayflower, Southampton

SPEND SPEND SPEND is a classic morality tale about living life to the limit and paying the price.

Those who paid the price to see this musical on its opening night at The Mayflower last night were not disappointed - it delivers in a way that Viv Nicholson's £152,000 pools win ultimately failed to.

Barbara Dickson and Rachel Leskovac play, respectively, the present-day and younger selves of Nicholson, the Castleford factory girl who crashed spectacularly through the barriers of her working-class existence after her incredible win, the equivalent of £8m today.

Nicholson attacked life like a maniac with the help of her winnings, which she famously told The Mirror she was going to "spend spend spend". But life bit back. She soon became alienated from her friends and family and then her husband Keith was killed in a car-crash.

Spend Spend Spend turns this raw material into stage magic, Dickson and Leskovac perfectly capturing Nicholson's blend of earthiness, vulnerability and cocky charm, while a raft of winning tunes highlights her roller-coaster existence.

At The Mayflower until July 28.