Review: King for a Day – The Nat King Cole story

Monday 17th November 2025 at York Theatre Royal

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King for a Day: The Nat King Cole Story is billed as a concert featuring live music, narration and archive footage of the icon himself to bring to life the story of a music legend.

The honey-voiced Atila leads a band of talented musicians (not credited in the show’s listings unfortunately) through a generous selection of Cole classics, including “Unforgettable”, “When I Fall in Love” and “Nature Boy” while also championing some of his lesser known works. 

Atila has a quiet charm and a permanent twinkle, often sounding strikingly similar to Cole in the texture of his voice and handling of the lyrics (and not just in the sequence in which Cole’s questionable foreign language pronunciations are affectionately spotlit). The selections and performances are lovely, but it did feel a little remiss to skip any Christmas selections given the time of year and the popularity of Cole’s Christmas work…

The show is a gentle, meandering one which leans heavily into the warm persona of Cole, as captured by the archive footage hovering over the stage – but it’s also a little lacking in variety and spark at times as a consequence. 

And while the second act provides much more in the direction of Cole’s story and anecdotes about his music and career (most compelling in the story of meeting the composer of “Nature Boy”, Eden Ahbez), it does feel like the show isn’t entirely accurately captured in the description; this is primarily a warm, affectionate tribute gig with some mild sporadic commentary and wonderful archive footage. 

It’s definitely an enjoyably mellow evening of entertainment, but I didn’t feel I learned too much more about the man behind the music than I already knew, so I’m not so sure it passes as “The Nat King Cole Story” as billed. 

King for a Day: The Nat King Cole Story was a one night event at York Theatre Royal, but more information about the show can be found here.