I have often wondered what it is about Barbra Streisand that makes it so difficult for others to play the same roles. It’s not just because she’s a legend. Liza Minnelli is a legend, and God knows there are enough revivals of Cabaret about. But Streisand inhabited the roles she played so completely (especially Fanny Brice) that it is truly difficult to imagine anyone else in them. When people try, even someone as talented as Lea Michele, it comes across as an imitation.

Sheridan Smith is an actor whose career path has been somewhat unconventional. She has broken out of the “cheerful funny working class girl” straitjacket by dint of sheer, uncontainable and blinding talent. She has been outstanding in drama (Flare Path, Hedda Gabler), comedy (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and certainly musicals (Legally Blonde, Little Shop of Horrors), to focus only on her stage work. So if anyone could fill the Streisand-shaped hole in Funny Girl, it would be Sheridan.

Funny Girl is the story of Fanny Brice (Smith), a woman who became a vaudeville star despite unconventional looks. The musical covers her rise to fame and her relationship with Nick Arnstein (Darius Campbell), a charming but crooked man who seemed impossibly sophisticated to the working-class Brice. It’s the songs that make it, however, and they are inextricably linked with Streisand. “People,” “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” etc.

Sheridan Smith smashed it. She was a wonder. Dare I whisper it, she was even better than Barbra. In the first act, she was fairly relentlessly cheerful, and showcased her excellent singing, good dancing and absolutely peerless comic timing. But oh, in the second, her astonishing dramatic talent came to the fore. Her ability to cry, sing, and act her socks off at the same time is something I have never seen before to this degree. She is really just that good. Her accent was spot-on throughout, New York but not too much so. It was in no way an imitation of Streisand but fully her own. It is a fabulous, fabulous performance and I feel so lucky to have seen it close up in the tiny Menier. It produced a standing ovation and is, I am confident, going to be a massive hit.

The rest of the cast is very good as well, with particular praise going to Marilyn Cutts as Fanny’s mother Rose, who also nailed the accent without overdoing it. Campbell was very well cast, with his height and solidness a delightful contrast to Smith’s tiny stature. He sang very well, with “Who Are You Now” a surprisingly moving duet. The ensemble produced some marvellous dancing in a very bijou space. It was most impressive.

The one fly in the ointment for me (which may be a somewhat churlish complaint in a London production) is that, with the exception of Smith and Cutts, it wasn’t New York enough for me. I know it can be done in London, as In The Heights is doing so brilliantly up in King’s Cross. The accents were generally good, but they were generic East Coast rather than Brooklyn. (Speaking of Brooklyn, it was amusing to hear them talk about Henry Street, where apartments are going for $3.5 million these days, and its contrasts with Manhattan). To put it in a New York way, the chicken soup needs a little more salt.

But that is a small complaint in what is a very good production. I cannot praise Smith enough. She is phenomenal and I can’t imagine anyone beating her to the Olivier next year. It’s sold out at the Menier but run, do not walk, to get a ticket for this at the Savoy.