A MUSICAL that offers fun and laughter, and some jolly good songs too, is being staged at the King Alfred's Community and Sports College east site, Wantage, this week.

The Wantage Stage Musical Company have chosen Sweet Charity, as their spring production as they believe it offers everything a good musical should.

First staged in 1966, Sweet Charity follows the adventures and misadventures of the gullible Charity Hope Valentine, a dance hostess who consistently gives her heart to the wrong man.

The show begins with Charity being thrown into the lake by the man she loves, and ends with her being pulled out of the same lake by a good fairy after another man she believed was her true love pushed her in again.

In between, we watch this eternal optimist, who is convinced she will find her true love, get into hilarious scrapes.

She even wakes up in a famous film star's flat one night, but that doesn't work out as it should. She ends up spending the entire night in a closet while the handsome star makes love to his partner.

When she finally decides to quit her job at the Fan-Dango dance hall, that goes wrong too. It seems Charity is destined to fall for the wrong man every time.

The tuneful score by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields features hits such as Big Spender, There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This, If My Friends Could See Me Now and the foot-tapping song, The Rhythm of Life.

The Wantage Stage Musical Company is staging this musical until Saturday, at 7.30pm. Tickets can be booked at the Vale and Downland Museum, Wantage, Bretts Chemist, Grove, or by phoning (01235) 770087. More information, including directions, is available on the company's website, www.WantageStageMusical.co.uk