This is Ludwig van Beethoven as you have never heard him before and probably never will again.

It is not a show for musical purists who will roll their eyes at souped-up symphonies and doggerelled sonatas: it is a delightful and alternative biography of the maestro which meets the facts occasionally and presents them in cabaret style, stretched to the zenith of possibility.

It is a tour de force from actors Bryan Hodgson as Ludwig and Anita Creed as Miss Everything Else from Wagnerian soprano to a very Modern Major General.

Nephew Karl as skateboarding Aussie: why not?

Anita, with speed-change wigs and accents, became a dazzling cast of characters as well as representing Music Since 1827 to hilarious effect.

Anything Wolfgang did, Ludwig did better, and on stage at The Warren. Bryan Hodgson, no mean pianist, did it his way on a keyboard with Fuer Elise - or was it Fuer Josefina, the chap had women trouble as well as deafness - romping through a catalogue set to dodgy modern lyrics.

Imaginative, clever and very funny, Ludwig Live! premiered for the Fringe, has toured America to great acclaim.

Four stars