I have been a fan of David Bedella for a while so when I heard about his Livestream from Crazy Coqs I knew I wanted to check it out.

For just over 60 minutes we were immersed into The Crazy Coqs with David Bedella and his pianist and arranger Steve Clark. The evening started slowly with Bedella and Clark getting used to the fact that there was no audience there to bounce their patter off however they soon warmed up as the show got going.

Steve Clark had ensured that the accompaniment sounded great and explained that the big band sound came from his Ipad which helped make the sound feel fuller. My one complaint was that often the sound levels between the songs and Bedella and Clark’s conversations in between were really inconsistent and meant that you had to spend the time turning the volume up and down, something you don’t normally have the ability to control when watching these shows!

The set list was eclectic with some musical theatre (of course), country, pop with Bowie and even a hymn to finish with. The set list was surprising and as with someone with such a fan following from shows such as Jerry Springer, In The Heights and & Juliet I would have expected to see some music from one of these shows in the concert and whilst eclectic is good I was a little disappointed. I was also not a big fan of the country number, ‘Down On My Knees,’ and whilst Bedella sounded great singing it I prefer Bedella with a little more personality to his songs, which this one seemed lacking.

My favourite parts of the concert were when he got to add his own flair into some of the numbers. ‘Something Better Than This,’ from Sweet Charity was a prime example of this. This followed on from comments about support, or rather lack of it, for performers during the pandemic and it not only fitted the comments brilliantly but Bedella performed it with bundles of personality.

Ending the show with ‘Let There Be Peace On Earth’ could have been a risky choice however the heartfelt story that went with it, combined with the madness that the world is currently facing made the ending rather poignant.

Overall it was a pleasant night in front of the TV that has a little something for everyone, although those looking for pure musical theatre may be slightly disappointed.

If you liked this review you might also like my quiz on West End shows, my article on shows that HAVE NOT won Olivier awards and my review on the book, 20 Theatres To See Before You Die.