Neil Tennant, the distinctive voice of the Pet Shop Boys. The duo's music combines broad appeal with intelligent lyrics The road that led to Somewhere One of the summer's most anticipated music events is the Pet Shop Boys' Somewhere.

But really it is going nowhere because it is a residency at London's Savoy Theatre (June 5 to 7 and 9 to 14 inclusive) that will represent the duo's first live appearances since 1991, and only the third set of British concerts in a 12-year chart history. While some bands claim addiction to life on the road, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have taken a far more restrained approach. It is the quality and impact of the shows they have staged before that is making Somewhere such a big attraction.

Past performances ­ received rapturously by public and critics ­ set new standards. Before their first UK dates in 1989, the Pet Shop Boys' live experience was limited to a two-song contribution to Before The Act, a benefit organised by Sir Ian McKellen and held the previous year at the Piccadilly Theatre. That they had one of the best ­ and bestselling ­ collections of work in Eighties pop to their credit only raised expectations.

But the spectacular show directed for them by the late film-maker Derek Jarman did not disappoint. Jarman said at the time: "They asked for a theatrical concert and that's what we're doing. I suppose that some people think pop music and theatre should not mix, but I think pop music is theatre, and I don't see why it shouldn't be so." The performance in 1991 went even further.

Tennant said in preview: "It's going to be more theatrical than the last tour, which still had elements of the rock concert that we'd like to get rid of." Put together in conjunction with the director David Alden and the designer David Fielding, celebrated for their avant-garde productions for English National Opera, and with a troupe of ten dancers choreographed by Jacob Marley, it drew uniform praise from reviewers. "It was an evening of jaw-dropping flamboyance, frequent hilarity and superior entertainment," wrote one. And another: "It was a Vegas show-stopper by way of Salvador Dali. Astonishing." Tennant and Lowe have never shown a fondness for repeating themselves, however, and expectations are that Somewhere will be a very different venture.

With its atmosphere of art deco richness, the recently restored Savoy is unlike those venues that they have played before. A seating capacity of 1,000 means that the two ­ alone on stage, save for one backing singer ­ will be able to achieve a closeness to their audience impossible from atop a huge stage at one end of an arena.

Such intimate surroundings should be perfect for the appreciation of a collection of songs that stands comparison with any in recent pop history. Perhaps because some of their hits have been driven by an energetic electronic pulse, there are critics who have found it possible to overlook Tennant's and Lowe's sure touch with melodies, and the intelligence and acuity of their lyrics. As commentators on contemporary Britain, they shame many more frequently lauded names. Somewhere will, I hope, be the environment in which to reappraise the pair. They are planning the stage environment in collaboration with Sam Taylor-Wood, an artist known for her use of video and close-circuit television.

This suggests that it will not be quite the back-to-basics cabaret approach one might otherwise imagine. Tennant said last year: "We come from a modernist tradition, believing that music progresses through technical innovation. Beethoven wrote for the newfangled pianoforte. In the Forties and Fifties, people played with the newfangled electric guitar. Then, in the Seventies and Eighties, we heard the newfangled synthesisers. In the early Nineties, it was the newfangled samplers that enabled you to use drum and percussion loops. Music has always advanced through technology." But from their 1985 debut hit West End Girls (a No 1 hit worldwide, America included), to their most recent single, the Top Ten success A Red Letter Day, songs rather than just beats per minute have been at the heart of the Pet Shop Boys' appeal. Their ability as writers has been recognised at the annual Ivor Novello Awards, and among the other artists to have benefited from this talent are Dusty Springfield, Tina Turner and Liza Minnelli (Tennant and Lowe have also collaborated with Blur, Suede and David Bowie).

Indeed, it is their appreciation not just of the dance music tradition, but also that of classic musical songwriting that has made the duo such an idiosyncratic and distinctive presence on the world charts. Appropriately, Somewhere takes its title from Leonard Bernstein's and Stephen Sondheim's West Side Story composition, a version ­ "definitive, I'm afraid," says Tennant ­ which is due for release as a Pet Shop Boys' single on Parlophone. As the critic Andrew Smith noted of this cumulative appeal: "Hip enough to play in underground clubs, cute enough to spin at Tramp, tuneful and insistent enough to excite radio producers, and clever enough for enthusiasts of traditional songwriting, they became the group that anyone could like."

Album sales of more than 25 million attest to this, as does a run of 29 Top 30 singles in Britain. With four of these having achieved No 1 status, Tennant and Lowe have equalled the record previously held jointly by Wham! and the Everly Brothers for the most chart-toppers ever by a duo. Meanwhile, that they are always looking for a further challenge is indicated not just by the Savoy shows, but by the fact that they are currently involved in the writing of a stage musical with Jonathan Harvey, writer of the acclaimed play and film Beautiful Thing (Tennant is also co-ordinating the production of Twentieth Century Blues, an album of cover versions of songs by Noël Coward, due to benefit the Red Hot Aids Trust).

It is perhaps unsurprising that they rarely perform live. Lowe said after their last UK appearance, a four-song set at the London Palladium: "I'm amazed people go on tour so much, because it's very stressful. It's very enjoyable too, but not the kind of thing we want to do after every album." All the more incentive, then, to catch them at the Savoy. It may be some time before you have another opportunity.