At the end of a play about a young woman with an amazing talent for impersonating musical divas, it rather sends out the wrong message for a press agent to hand out a list of who was being impersonated. I was shocked to find that that American-accented rendition of “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” was after all meant to be the British 1960s pop singer Dusty Springfield. “I Have Confidence” came across as equal parts Julie Andrews (as intended) and Connie Fisher. Diana Vickers (a star of the 2008 series of television talent show The X Factor) is on far firmer ground with the title character LV’s favourites Shirley Bassey and Judy Garland, although the more she belts Garland the more accuracy she loses.

It may seem harsh to compare Vickers with Jane Horrocks, for whom Jim Cartwright wrote Little Voice in 1992, but it illustrates a crucial element of the character. Horrocks could quite plausibly play a girl with chronically low self-esteem. Vickers, although she applies herself to the role with commitment, is visibly one of those young people determined upon and physically groomed for fame. No one who has suffered years of contempt from a blowsy, self-obsessed mother would have skin or musculature so obviously toned. Those dowdy pigtails and shapeless sweats aren’t fooling anybody.

Lesley Sharp is similarly dedicated to the monstrosity of the mother Mari, to the extent that she is perhaps too repellent to be the fascinating character that is required. Marc Warren pitches his performance nicely as Ray Say, the small-time agent who comes home with Mari for a one-night stand only to discover LV warbling reclusively in her bedroom; you can tell exactly how tawdry his idea of style is from his open shirt, cowboy boots, aviator shades and sideburns. Terry Johnson is a dab hand at directing this kind of slightly grotesque comedy. He also finds poignancy at the right moments. But the evening stands or falls with Vickers, and although she may have star quality it is not as LV. It’s also telling that her final number, a new song written by Mark Owen, is supposed to be sung in LV’s own voice, and Vickers – a Lancashire lass like her character – goes all transatlantic again.

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