Q&A: Gareth Valentine on TALES OF A MUSICAL DIRECTOR at Crazy Coqs

Renowned musical director, conductor and raconteur Gareth Valentine returns to Crazy Coqs after two sold out performances in 2022 of his one man show, Tales of a Musical Director. We spoke to Gareth ahead of his upcoming residency.

You’re due to return to Crazy Coqs in London for a short residency. What makes playing this venue so unique?

It’s a bijou love nest for people who love intimacy coupled with spontaneity - and alcohol.

You will be joined each night by a special guest: Janie Dee, Haydn Gwynne and Joanna Riding. What can audiences expect to see?

With guests such as these, they can expect to see the creme-de-la-creme. They’re all mates and all big flavours!

During the show, you tell anecdotal stories from your career. Can you share one with us now as a little teaser?

How about when Ann Widdecombe caught me in flagrante delicto in a Kentish cornfield for starters?

Did you always want to work in a musical capacity? Or at some point did you consider doing something else as a career?

I wanted more than anything to be an opera singer. Nothing else would do but I was blown like a leaf in the wind onto the conductor’s podium in musical theatre.

You have worked with some incredible people over the years, is there anyone that you still aspire to work with?

Yes. Leonard Bernstein, but that will have to wait.

You have worked extensively on too many musicals to mention but if you had to pick one, what would you say was your favourite to work on and why?

I’d say Kiss Of The Spiderwoman with the Broadway cast in London. Chita Rivera, John Kander and I have been friends ever since and the show was a peach to conduct.

Gareth Valentine: Tales of a Musical Director plays at Crazy Coqs from 10-12 April, with further information here.