Not only were numbers from musicals slain; pop songs from across the decades were casualties too. And we're not talking quick executions. Most of these were lingering, painful deaths – and tortuous to witness.

It had all started out so promisingly. The opening number – Pure Imagination – was endearingly sung by the trio of West End stars Ramin Karimloo, Stephen Rahman-Hughes and Lee Mead. Thereafter, the show turned into a feast of bad taste, featuring arrangements which lulled the listener into a false sense of security and semi-pleasure before exploding into samey rock ballads.