BALOO the bear's rendition of The Bear Necessities serves for many of us as an all-time classic and fond childhood memory.

So, if you were to go and see The Jungle Book at the theatre, would you feel it came up short if it didn't include the infamous song?

It may have been conspicuous by its absence in The Dukes Theatre's stage version, but the audience of around 70 per cent under 10s didn't seem to miss it.

With an eye-catching and versatile set and six multi-talented players, the show mixed the serious with the comic to produce an all-round family show that didn't need gimicky songs to get its message across.

Based heavily on the original Rudyard Kipling books, Dean Hussain as the grown-up Mowgli carried off heckling from five-year-olds, dance steps, songs and emotional acting superbly -- and not many would have the nerve to do it all in just a loin cloth.

Terence Mann managed to be both sinister as the scary Shere Khan and hilarious as the Sergeant Major, while Nick Camm as Baloo was the cuddly bear we all want to stay in the jungle with.

Despite the overall calm of the show, with its soothing Indian-style music, all hell did break loose three or four times when the actors ventured into the audience. The monkey tribe, especially, wreaked havoc -- much to the amusement of the little ones.

The cast and crew managed to balance humour for a younger audience with a thought-provoking and entertaining show. For my money, Disney can keep its Bear Necessities.

The daughter's view, HEATHER ZIGLER, aged nine

THE stage looked good because it looked like a jungle and was really colourful.

The story was nice because I liked the characters, especially Baloo who was really funny.

It was funny when the monkeys came into the audience and smacked me on the head.

They also showed their bums off to Baloo and they were really funny.

Shere Khan looked good with his shiny green stripes and he had a really good costume and realistic face.

The Sergeant was also really funny with his big moustache and I thought the wolves were like the ones in the Disney film.

I didn't really notice what the music was like.

All the other kids there liked the show too. The programme they gave out was really cool.

The Jungle Book, Dukes Theatre, Lancaster, until January 5