CD REVIEW: Richard Beadle - Songs, Feat. Julie Atherton, Jon Boydon & More

There's much to love in this collection of musical theatre pieces written by Richard Beadle, whose musical direction credits include Betty Blue Eyes (Novello Theatre), Hair! (Gielgud Theatre), Priscilla, Queen Of the Desert (Palace Theatre) and Grease (Piccadilly Theatre).

Richard Beadle fuses theatrical lyrics with a poppy style, thick textures and an impressive roster of musical theatre singers - Julie Atherton, Jon Boydon, Stuart Matthew Price, Ross Hunter, Rachael Wooding, Hannah Waddingham, Louise Dearman, and Landi Oshinowa.

Julie Atherton gives a cute and Cockney performance as a wannabe WAG in "I Want a Footballer", searching for "a firm-loaded jock / of good working-class stock".

Atherton is also cast in "The Wedding Song", playing a perfectionist bride panicking on her wedding day. Using a piano-based style featuring klezmer-like violin playing, the song is reminiscent of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years.

Beadle's slick musical pastiches give an overriding impression of musical excess. There's no apology for adding a brass section or a high belter in the final verse, and nor should there be.

Although lyrically uninventive, the tunes and their arrangements are great fun and will work well in front of a live theatre audience. This is unpretentious music that gives the performers a chance to get stuck in to some powerful singing - an opportunity they take up enthusiastically.

You can buy the album for £9.99 at http://richardbeadle.com/albums/richard-beadle-songs/