You can try not to laugh but you will. You can try to hate it, but I doubt that’ll work either. For Jihad - The Musical is a wonderfully kitsch, old-style, musical hall, Broadway musical just like they used to write ‘em. Oh, and it just happens to be about a suicide bomber.

From the opening big chorus number, the gloriously irreverent Jalalabad It’s Good To Be Here, it’s clear where they’re going with this. Enter Foxy (a feisty Emily McNamara), a US network news reporter with cameraman in tow looking for salacious interviews. They bump into Sayid Al-Bloom (Ben Sheuer, gentle-voiced and witty), a street florist who worries about his future in the plaintive If My Flowers Won’t Grow How Can I? But he is recruited by the mysterious Nur (Meetu Chilana, seductively sultry behind that veil) into going to New York. Cue security check routine by two burly immigration officials in drag.

Sayid is brought to the terrorist cell HQ where its leader Hussain (a larger than life Sorab Wadia) steals the show as he teaches country bumpkin Sayid how to make a big bang in the Big Apple. But fate, in the form of Foxy, now plays its part…

Zoe Samuel and Ben Sheuer’s songs are classic belt-‘em-out numbers - naturally there’s a Jihad Jive chorus line - and if the Jewish cast of Fiddler on the Roof suddenly appeared onstage singing Tradition you’d be pressed to spot the difference from the Muslims. Of course it’s a little bit overstretched - but Samuel’s script gives this hardworking ensemble zinging one-liners aplenty, while also notching up the benchmark are Andy Jordan’s inventive cartoon props and Deb O’s spot-on costumes. With enough burqa jokes to throw a yarmulka at, never has Homeland Security been this fun.