Lenny Henry as rock star? The idea is not so preposterous considering the obvious versatility of the Dudley-born entertainer who two years ago wowed the critics (me included) with his performance as Othello.

Early in his one-man show, Cradle to Rave, last Saturday he demonstrated that he certainly has the voice for stardom in a spot-on imitation of Marvin Gaye’s high tenor.

But as we learned later, Lenny had in fact made a bid for rock fame in the 1980s. The scene in which his bubble was burst by the legendary producer Trevor Horn — gently but firmly — was played out in the second half of this autobiographical show.

A succession of anecdotes rather than a parade of jokes, the evening was amusing rather than side-splittingly funny. We left the theatre thinking we had spend the evening in very sympathetic company, which was doubtless just as we had expected.

As with so many of us, music has supplied the template of Lenny’s life, and it was against a background of favourite songs, beginning with Elvis’s Jailhouse Rock, that his story was told. The most entertaining episodes concerned his early home life, as one of seven siblings born to a Jamaican immigrant couple — cricket-mad dad and harried mum. These led on (but of course!) to the traditional rites of passage involving the opposite sex (“Leave her alone — she’s your sister!”).

Such painful topics as his 2010 split with long-time wife Dawn French were, naturally, omitted from this feelgood show. The evening ended with the arrival of a band, and Lenny leading from the piano in a rousing performance of Fats Domino’s Blueberry Hill. Truly a rock star finale!