A double first: down the centuries, Oxford students have dreamt of gaining that distinction as their finals approach. But meanwhile Oxford Brookes Students' Union Fortune Players have scored their own double first: it's the first time that Oxford Brookes has mounted a show at the New Theatre, and it's believed to be the first time that John Dempsey and Dana Rowe's tuneful musical The Witches of Eastwick has been staged in the city.

Witches tells the story of Darryl Van Horne, a Lothario who arrives from New York City to bring sexual chaos to Eastwick, Rhode Island (pop 7,680). Local girls Alex, Jane, and Sukie have a problem: are tongues wagging, do their neighbours think they are lesbians? For, they sing in chorus, "What we want is a man". Played respectively by Cathryn Short, Gemma Knight, and Pollyanna Middleditch, the changing relationship between the three girls was most entertainingly handled.

Needless to say, Alex, Jane, and Sukie are soon separately invited round to Darryl's mansion. The agenda is clear: not only is there a huge bed, there is also a naked statue, allegedly of Darryl himself. However, the sculptor has, one suspects, thought it wise to considerably flatter his subject. For Iain Potter convincingly presented Darryl as a greasy little man, complete with oily hair that constantly flopped forward. Warmth of character was there none: "I even pee cold," he proudly informed his female visitors. Yet he unaccountably had no trouble bedding them.

Although this production featured lavish scenery and a large, enthusiastic chorus, director Nicholas Pinks' great achievement was to keep the key scenes small-scale and tellingly intimate. Witches may not be the greatest musical ever written, but all praise to Brookes for letting us see