An Oxfordshire couple are on the verge of West End stardom after their musical won rave reviews from London critics.

Despite only playing in the tiny 78-seat New End Theatre in Hampstead, Roll Over Jehovah! is winning praise from audiences and reviewers alike.

The Evening Standard described the musical as having "enough sparkling pizzazz to make a Christmas tree jealous" while What's On in London said "Hell will freeze over before you see a musical as enjoyable as this one". And the respected Stage Magazine said the play was somewhere between Life of Brian and Jesus Christ Superstar but "more entertaining than both".

The brains behind the show are Theolyn Cortens, her husband Will Shaman, of Upton, near Burford, and his brother, London-based Tim Jarman.

The musical, with choreography by Wayne Sleep, hinges on a bet between God and Lucifer as to what will happen if humans are given free will and follows the ups and downs of humanity from the Garden of Eden to the present day. Appropriate, then, that it has found a home at New End Theatre, itself steeped in history having once been a morgue where Karl Marx was laid out before being taken to Highgate Cemetery.

Theolyn and Will first came up with the idea 20 years ago, shortly after their marriage. They attempted to have it staged as an alternative nativity play in a local school, but it was rejected.

It then lay gathering dust for ten years until they decided to resurrect it and, with some fine-tuning, it now appears in its current form as a future West End hit. Will, 44, who works as a business analyst at scoot.com, said: "We've been delighted with the way things have gone, especially as we launched at the height of the petrol crisis when people couldn't get to the theatre.

"It was also great working with Wayne Sleep. There are very few people who could successfully recreate a group of cardinals dancing across the stage with the Pope. He brought a lot of sparkle to it.

"The show's producer Adrian Hilton is very well connected and the West End is making some noise about our musical. We expect it may go to the West End sometime early next year that will be a dream come true." Theolyn, 56, works as an astrologer and poet and runs the free magazine Heart of England Pathways. The duo are now working on other collaborations.

Roll Over Jehovah! runs until Sunday.