West End bound - and bound to be a huge hit there - TakeThat: Never Forget pauses en route this week at Milton Keynes Theatre. What a surprising (for me) delight it proves, with its combination of impeccable performances from singers, dancers and band (musical director Matt Smith), suitably lavish standards of production and a heart-warming story in the very familiar "Hey-let's-put-on-a-show!" mode.

I would call it a nostalgia show; but how to be nostalgic about a band still very much with us? After their much-publicised break-up in 1996 - tears at bedtime from fans, even suicides, it's said - the five lads went their separate ways. With the single exception of Robbie Williams, the way at first was downwards. But ten years on, Take That were back together again to renewed success - though Mr Williams wanted none of it. Ironically enough, his solo career is now in poor shape.

Take That having become stellar again in the year or so during which Never Forget has been put together, the band is said to be less enthusiastic about the project now than they were at the outset. But they need fear no damage, surely, to the brand name that is Take That, for this two hours of feelgood entertainment can only enhance it.

Writers Danny Brocklehurst, Guy Jones and Ed Curtis have fashioned an easy-to-follow (and almost credible) story about a Take That tribute band taking its first steps on the road to success. The setting is the group's home-city of Manchester (its town hall's clock tower is the centrepiece of Bob Bailey's highly versatile set) where we find the unscrupulous, if endearing, low-level pop manager Ron Freeman (Teddy Kempner) preparing to audition for the band.

The focus first falls on Ash Sherwood (Dean Chisnall), just engaged to Chloe (Sophia Ragavelas), sister of his oldest friend, Jake Turner (excellently played on Tuesday by understudy Adam C.Booth). The splendid singing voice of the former and waggish wit of the latter convince Ron (and us) that he has found his Gary Barlow and his Robbie Williams. Soon 'the fat one' and the 'cheeky one' are joined by 'the cute one' and 'the usually forgotten one' in the form of Adrian Banks's 'Mark Owen' (Tim Driesen) and strutting stripper Dirty Harry's 'Howard Donald' (Eaton James). What of 'Jason Orange'? He is comic Spaniard Jose Reize (Stephane Anelli) from Seville - Seville oranges, geddit?

The group limbers up for stardom with some wonderfully choreographed (Karen Bruce) dance routines which also involve a team of terrific hoofers hired to put them through their paces. Fissures in their relationship start to appear, however, with the arrival of the man-eating record company agent Annie Borrowman (Joanne Farrell), who singles out Ash for solo stardom - and her bed. The raunchy scene in which she gets her way - a Miss Whiplash routine in a pole-dancing club to Gary Barlow's up-tempo Once You've Tasted Love - was, for me, the high-spot of the show.

To Barlow came most of the credit for Take That's songs: here they include Pray, Love Ain't Here Anymore, A Million Love Songs, Babe and, of course, the title song of the show. What I will perhaps Never Forget, however, is that none of them is a patch on two of the group's other hits heard here - Barry Manilow's Could It Be Magic and It Only Takes a Minute, a British hit first time round in 1976, for Jonathan King.

Never Forget is at Milton Keynes until tomorrow (tel. 0870 060 6652) and at London's Savoy Theatre (0870 164 8787) from May 7.