"Nothing ruins comedy like arenas," sings Tim Minchin. But comedy doesn't usually feature a 55-piece orchestra. The Aussie minstrel succeeds where several comedians (his compatriot Barry Humphries among them) have failed, marrying standup and symphonic music to thrilling effect. He all but raises this arena's roof with the sound of instrumentalists at electrifying full pelt and 4,000 onlookers cheering a talent at the gleeful top of his game.
Yes, there are moments when the combination misfires. Minchin's cerebral love song If I Didn't Have You is overwhelmed by its orchestration. Elsewhere, his trademark rationalism is sometimes insufficiently leavened by wit, and feels hectoring. A new song praising ambivalence over binary thinking (inspired by Timothy Garton Ash, apparently) is a bit rich coming from this atheist fundamentalist.
Better is a composition inspired by a fan's claim that his mother's cataracts were cured by prayer. Hell hath no fury like Minchin goaded by credulity – and with an escalating fervour, the Heritage Orchestra match his scorn for this tale of an "omnipotent ophthalmologist" step for excoriating step. Other comics have tried to control their orchestras; Minchin surrenders to his, surfing the almighty sound of it and visibly enjoying the rush.
Other standouts include an anti-lullaby to Minchin's sleepless baby, in which this exhaustive punner rhymes "Ringo" and "dingo" with "sing Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da". But there are tender offerings, too: an intriguing track about the temptations of beauty ("a harlot [who] will lie for any two-bit artist"), and a swooning ode to life on this earth, Not Perfect. The show's not perfect, either – but at its scintillating best, it's as close as arena comedy is likely to get.
