BWW Album Review: THE QUENTIN DENTIN SHOW Original Cast Recording

Critically acclaimed musical The Quentin Dentin Show has gone down a storm with audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe and in London, and now supernatural game show host, Quentin Dentin himself, will be releasing his debut album next month.

Known internationally, Dentin is a motivational speaker, wellness coach, chemist and, to date, his musical game show has had three professional outings, where he has been dubbed "the future of musical theatre" by Entertainment Focus.

Original drummer of The Kooks, Paul Garred, has produced the 15-song cast recording - of which the influence is apparent throughout - and Henry Carpenter has written the music and lyrics that make up Dentin's seminar on how to live your best life. The concept is unlike anything else I've heard of, making it fresh and original straightaway.

Having not seen the show live, it's rather difficult to predict how it translates to CD. There are rock influences in many of the tracks, including the opening "Radio Interruption", "Lemons" (reminding me of The Rocky Horror Show initially), and "Take Your Medicine" and "Life", which both feature an amazing guitar instrumental.

Composer and lyricist Carpenter is the star of the show with his witty lyrics and competency in visiting different musical genres, although perhaps leaning towards 80s-inspired melodies with an electro-pop vibe. This is particularly evident in "Holiday" and "Numbers". On the other hand, "Get Happy" takes a completely different spin, sounding almost like a kid's party song with its catchy bass line.

Dentin has a traditional musical theatre voice and a fairly clipped vocal in the most part. Occasionally this does clash with the music style, but I feel this would work better in context. Dentin sings the majority of the numbers, although he has some excellent female backing. A female vocal leads "Holiday" and "The Quentin Dentin TV Show", and these songs stop the recording from becoming samey.

A tale of two halves: very clever, yet not entirely convincing purely on a cast recording.

The Quentin Dentin Show Original Cast Recording is released on 14 September and can now be pre-ordered on iTunes.

Watch a trailer below!

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