‘Virtually every writer I know would rather be a musician,” Kurt Vonnegut once said, and comedy isn’t short of examples, from Ricky Gervais playing as David Brent with Foregone Conclusion to Jack Black’s Tenacious D and the Mighty Boosh’s heavy Camden shtick.
For something more subtle, try The Lost Disc, in which mild-mannered Perrier award winner Will Adamsdale shapeshifts into Roger LeFevre (a folk troubadour), Tony Noel (a jazz crooner who sings Christmas songs year-round) and AP Williams (a country singer). In The Lost Disc, fictional former 6 Music DJ Stu Morecambe is on the hunt for an apocryphal bootleg of a performance by LeFevre, Noel and Williams at Glastonbury 1985.
The Lost Disc is essentially two shows in one, then – something which ultimately undermines its various delights. The bulk of it is devoted to the three musicians, with Adamsdale superb as he twists himself with minimal exertion into effectively mimicking Dylan and Donovan, then Tony Bennett and finally Johnny Cash. With each performer, we are sent down a backstory rabbit hole, partly for the sake of pure adventure but also to shore up the over-engineered narrative. The original songs – written by Adamsdale, Ed Gaughan and Chris Branch and performed on stage alongside the London Snorkelling Team – are mightily impressive and bring some warmth to this tall tale. And as well as Adamsdale’s discreet style of star quality, the supporting cast is excellent, notably the versatile Gaughan.
There is a bit of a crunching gear-change when we get to the pursuit of the lost recording. Morecambe steps forward as protagonist again, having played second fiddle for most of the show. Great efforts are made to get us to empathise with his journey, but really there have been too many distractions and subplots. The climax lacks impact.
Where The Lost Disc does work is in its strange mix of mockumentary and narrative, the blending of fact and fiction in which LeFevre and Noel exist alongside Jarvis Cocker and the Beatles. (I’d love to see Adamsdale do a whole show as either LeFevre or Williams.) If you stumbled across it on BBC4 after a few too many Somerset ciders, you’d go along for the ride. And perhaps, like many other over-ambitious jazz odysseys, that’s how it would best be consumed.
The Lost Disc is at Soho theatre, London, until 27 October.
