I suspect audiences for the musical Cruel Intentions are going to fall into two camps – those who love the 1999 film and enjoy the nostalgia trip and those new to the story who aren’t quite sure what to make of it.

For fans of the movie, the musical is a fairly faithful reputation of the plot, with an added bonus of a nineties’ soundtrack from huge hitters including Boyz II Men, No Doubt, REM, Britney Spears and Ricky Martin.

The storyline is inspired by the 18th century novel Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos and is a love triangle with a twist. Moved into a high school setting, half-siblings Kathryn and Sebastian make a bet that Sebastian can seduce the new headmaster’s daughter Annette. But will the pure-at-heart Annette fall for the dastardly Sebastian and what happens if Sebastian discovers he has a heart after all?

Nic Myers is a thoroughly devious Kathryn with no feeling for anyone but herself. Even when the consequences of her actions would shock most people, Kathryn continues to self-justify. But while she has no sisterhood loyalty for any of the women she encourages her half-brother to seduce, she does have a point when she reminds him of the double standards of a society which lauds a promiscuous man as a ‘bit of a lad’ but damns a woman who does the same as a ‘slut’. Myers is at her best when at her most provocative and can certainly belt out a tune.

Will Callan’s Sebastian is a chameleon who can charm the pants off countless women (literally) and yet complains to his sister how boring this all is. Callan’s Sebastian is casual in his cruelty no matter who is in the firing line but when he discovers he too is capable of love he doesn’t know how to cope with it.

Abbie Budden gives us an Annette who isn’t all sugar sweet and we see her feisty side as she argues her corner with Sebastian.

This is all supplemented by a soundtrack which packs in song after song including Torn, The Sign, Colorblind, Bye Bye Bye, Genie in a Bottle, Just a Girl, Bitter Sweet Symphony and Livin’ the Vida Loca. And while many of the songs are shoehorned in, chosen more for their popularity than relevance to the plotline, they are performed with plenty of gusto across the cast and a live band. Choreographed by Gary Lloyd, who is also associate director, the dancing is high energy and fun.

The production looks splendid with Polly Sullivan’s set centring on a chaise longue and Nick Richings’ colourful overhead lighting flashing ‘Cruel Intentions’ at us periodically - both a reminder of the ongoing bet. Sullivan’s costumes are a perfect match for each character with Kathryn in a constantly changing wardrobe of vampish outfits in direct contrast with Annette’s wholesome summer dresses and pumps.

Created by Jordan Ross, Lindsey Rosin and Roger Kumble and directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, the show relies on tongue-very-firmly-in-cheek humour. But while the original film largely got away with its seedy tale and unpleasant characters, the stage version feels awkward in the face of some of its subject matter and how to depict it.

The main storyline of the battle of wills between Kathryn, Sebastian and Annette is even-handed largely because (watch out for plot spoiler) we have a sense all will be treated as they have meted. But the sub-plots sometimes feel a bit clunky and even discomforting to watch with themes of racism, sexism and homophobia rearing their head but presented largely as jokes to evoke laughter.

For me, this comes through particularly in the sub-plot in which Sebastian and Kathryn lead on Cecile played by Lucy Carter. They encourage Cecile to have sex with Sebastian in order for her to learn how to please the man she really loves and she responds to this with simple-minded enthusiasm. But in the #metoo era, portraying a young woman being sexually exploited for laughs feels hugely uncomfortable.

It raises the question of how far can you push humour before it risks making light of a situation rather than shining a light on it? There’s also the debate about art depicting the time it portrays rather than having to reflect modern views – after all Shakespeare’s hugely misogynistic The Taming of the Shrew still has its stagings!

Ultimately audiences will make their own minds up and whatever we think of the morals there is no doubt Cruel Intentions is a stylish musical with some powerful performances.

Three stars

Cruel Intentions The ‘90s Musical was reviewed by Diane Parkes on Tuesday 3 June at Birmingham Hippodrome, where it shows until Saturday 7 June.