If you’re a Whitney Houston fan, The Bodyguard is unmissable.

But actually, even if you simply love fantastic live music, go. Because this is a top-level concert wrapped up in a storyline – and there were moments on opening night at the Bristol Hippodrome when I genuinely felt as though I was at a Whitney Houston concert.

The outfits. The sequins. The backing dancers. The staging. The special effects. The pyrotechnics – so fierce at times that we could actually feel the heat. And the lighting! But more about that later. Because first, the vocals.

OMG.

Mireia Mambo can sing. As superstar Rachel Marron, Mambo belts out hit after Whitney hit and somehow each one is as good as the last. Queen of the Night, So Emotional, Greatest Love of All, I Have Nothing, One Moment in Time, I Will Always Love You...the catalogue of songs in this show is ridiculous.

There isn't really a big showstopper because every number feels like one.

The first could have been the finale – and then the production just keeps doing it again. In fact, when I looked at the notes I'd scribbled in the dark afterwards, three words appeared over and over: Spectacle. Lighting. Ensemble.

And that pretty much sums up our evening. Starting with a bang. Literally. You've heard the expression 'starting with a bang'? Well, The Bodyguard literally does. Twice.

Cue an auditorium full of people jumping out of their seats – and before we've really caught our breath, we're plunged straight into the atmosphere of a huge live concert.

Fire, dancers, enormous beams of light and a wall of sound.

Then, just as quickly, the music gives way to the story. A threatening letter has been left for Rachel and suddenly something much darker is happening. It's a device the production uses brilliantly throughout.

We are repeatedly swept into the excitement of Rachel Marron the global superstar and then pulled back into the increasingly sinister reality of a woman being stalked. And that threat is always there.

Video designer Duncan McLean's projections of the stalker onto the brick backdrop are wonderfully ominous, adding another layer of foreboding long before the threat becomes physical.

Later, at the log cabin, the stalker – played by James-Lee Harris – suddenly appears illuminated in a doorway. Another enormous jump from us.

My notes at that point simply say 'brilliant, brilliant'. Apparently eloquence deserted me. And can we talk about the lighting? Because I wrote lighting so many times that Mark Henderson, the production's lighting designer, absolutely deserves a mention. It is outstanding.

At its biggest, the lighting makes the Bristol Hippodrome feel like a vast international concert arena – huge beams cutting through the darkness, stars against black backgrounds, smoke and haze combining to create one spectacular image after another.

But it's the quieter use of light that impressed me just as much. A bedroom is washed in pink. At another point, Nicki sits in a chair surrounded by a beautiful blue hue as her sadness comes to the surface. Spotlights isolate individual characters and draw our eye precisely where it needs to go.

Together with Tim Hatley's set and costume design, it creates a production that never seems to stand still. I particularly loved the opulent drapes used throughout Rachel's home. Their arrangement changes to suggest different rooms and, in Act II, even gives the impression of a sumptuous four-poster bed.
Add those fabulous sequinned superstar costumes and every inch of Rachel's world feels suitably glamorous. Each time we return to one of her performances, we're given a different concert setting too, so the musical numbers continue to feel fresh and exciting rather than simply becoming another song on the same stage.

Spectacle. There's that word again. But there is a story underneath it all Adam Garcia plays Frank Farmer, the former Secret Service agent brought in to protect Rachel. Initially I found Frank almost impossible to read. He's inscrutable, controlled and emotionally closed – almost wooden.

But as the evening progresses, I wondered whether that isn't rather the point. This is a man whose job requires him not to become emotionally involved. And we are given little glimpses of something softer very early on.

He agrees to take the case after seeing the threatening letter and learning Rachel has a son, Fletcher, and his natural way with the little boy immediately reveals another side of him. Later there is the lighter comedic karaoke scene which the audience loved. I also loved the use of silence between Frank and Rachel. Sometimes very little needs to be said. They feel like two alpha personalities butting heads, neither prepared to surrender control.

Of course, we know where that is heading.

Providing a sharp contrast to Frank's stoic professionalism is Matt Milburn as Rachel’s slick, fast-talking manager, Sy Spector. Milburn captures the frantic energy of a man trying to manage both a global diva and a looming security crisis, balancing the show's tension with just the right amount of showbiz bravado.

But the character who really got under my skin was Rachel's sister, Nicki Marron, played by Sasha Monique. She was fabulous. For me, Nicki felt like the most authentic character on the stage. There is so much happening underneath the surface and Monique allows us to feel it without constantly showing it.