Review of Strictly Ballroom - The Musical at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The film director Baz Luhrmann is a somewhat unique person, the creator of colourful, cartoon-like characters, broad landscapes, and an exceptional user of contrasting music styles. As a result, his work is a Marmite entity, and this musical of Luhrmann's first film, Strictly Ballroom, very much falls into another area between those jars of Marmite in itself. It embodies the sheer ridiculous cartoonish world the film inhabited, but under the direction of Craig Revel Horwood, sometimes becomes a muddled mess, with less clarity than the film. However, is it worth your precise theatre time?

This is a maybe. It doesn't start well, well, when it started after a ten-minute technical delay, that is, as there is an introduction from director Craig Revel Horwood that feels like it goes on forever and makes the toes curl with the inane content. Even before that, we had also had the announcement that the star of the show Kevin (Clifton) from Grimsby was not performing, so, before the show has even begun, there is disappointment ebbing from the audience. I heard someone behind me utter the line "Oh, Kevin Clifton isn't performing again". It turns out, he seems to be a serial offender on this tour.

Anyway, enough of the negatives. Strictly Ballroom - The Musical is a fun show, if not pushing all of the right buttons. It is bright and breezy, full of a lot of energy, and despite the sheer amount of people onstage at times, some good dance routines.

In the shoes of Kevin Clifton for this performance as Scott is Edwin Ray, and it is fair to say that he does a good job. He has the moves for the dance routines and vocally he is also excellent. However, he doesn't quite have the showman in him for the lead role, and as a result, the big main character doesn't feel as if he is any more important than many of the side characters much of the time despite the story being driven though his characters aim of winning the Pan-Pacific Championships. There also feels a disconnection between Ray as Scott and his eventual dance partner, and maybe more, Fran, played by Maisie Smith.

Smith gives a likable performance as Fran, if a little shrill, even more so than many of the other characters, shrill seems to be the requirement in this show. At the outset, she is portrayed as a sort of budget Janet Weiss from Rocky Horror, and then, as is the standard fair of this kind of show, a quick makeover and the awkward duckling becomes a swan. Maybe too unbelievable at times, but this is musical theatre darlings, so, go with it. Smith also has the moves for her pairing with Ray, but cannot match him, or others, vocally sadly.

The best performances though lie in the hands of the older members of the cast. Gary Davis is fab-u-lous as Barry Fife, head of the Dance Federation. Part Donald Trump, part Sir Les Patterson, sexually predatory his character for the most lurid moments of the show, but, you can't help but like him, but hate yourself at the same time for laughing at his antics. Mark Sangster is also a delight as Scott's father Doug Hastings, a brilliantly comic performance. I also really liked Karen Mann as Abuela, a lovely, softly played performance and she delivers her songs lovingly.

Finally from the cast, I must mention Jose Agudo as Rico, a stunningly talented dancer who leads the very best scene of the whole show when we venture into Paso Doble territory. It builds impressively and ends with the Paso version of Riverdance, and looks superb.

Craig Revel Horwood's direction has its moments and yes, he knows how to create dance sequences of course. However at times, the stage simply is too busy with action from the dancers for the space available, and just becomes a muddled mess. He also manages the cardinal sin of blocking a vital scene towards the end of the show by leaving two dancers slap-bang centre downstage, omitting the main players of the scene from view for a large number of the audience.

I cannot say that Strictly Ballroom isn't enjoyable, it is crazy fun entertainment that you need to embrace with the madness intended. However, for all that, there are too many issues that make this fail to be a perfect number 10 from the judges.

A crazy world of music and dance that isn't perfect, but not without its charms.

⭐⭐⭐

Performance reviewed: Monday 27th February 2023 at the Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton.

Strictly Ballroom - The Musical is at Royal & Derngate until 4th March 2023.

For further details about the Royal & Derngate and to book tickets see their website at http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk

Production photos: Ellie Kurttz
Images feature Kevin Clifton who was not performing at the performance reviewed.

Review of Friends - The Musical Parody at Milton Keynes Theatre

The One Where 2026 starts in a world of confusion. And so, 2026 is upon us and for my first trip to the theatre this year, one of my most significant reviewing challenges was to occur. Touring to Milton Keynes Theatre is Friends - The Musical Parody , based, unsurprisingly, on that little American show that ran to a few audience members for ten years. However, I confess that I was not, and have never been in that audience, never having seen a single episode of the show. However, always up for a review challenge and doing my due diligence by having a Friends superfan as my plus one, I headed to Milton Keynes with anticipation. For those unfamiliar with the show, I could say I can’t help; however, a quick review of some of the information you might need (thanks, Google and my plus one). Running for ten years between 1994 and 2004 with 236 episodes (quiz question, you are welcome), the main characters consisted of Phoebe (ditzy, writer of sad songs), Monica (in possession of an unfeasibly...

Review of Matthew Bourne's Romeo + Juliet at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

Despite now having seen a few dance shows encompassing many different styles, I had yet to see one developed by Sir Matthew Bourne, a controversial player in his time, but as the relatively recent knighthood suggests, now very much embraced by the establishment. So, does Romeo + Juliet live up to his name, that is the question? So, first, this might normally be where I give you a brief outline of the story, but, for one, most have a general understanding of the love disaster of William Shakespeare's play already, and two, as it turns out from the Bourne production, a huge amount of what you might be familiar with has gone or been dramatically changed anyway. There is shocking complicity in murders, there are different moments of murder and gone are the warring factions of the Montagues and Capulets. Characters themselves feel very different at times also, to such an extent that even knowing the play doesn't always make it clear who is who at times. So, if all that sounds...

Review of 2:22 A Ghost Story at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

2:22 A Ghost Story continues an endless rise and run of success on the stage. This play by Danny Robins was first staged as recently as August 2021 at the Noel Coward Theatre and since then the show continued to run in London for two years, moving to four further London theatres, before eventually closing in the city to embark on this tour, which began in September last year. During these runs, the cast has constantly been updated with often populist actors, and some, which are not even associated with acting. As this reaches Royal & Derngate, now even the touring cast has been swept clean and four further performers take on the incredible success of a show. This is the second time I have seen 2:22 A Ghost Story , and it is safe to say that on that first viewing, with the previous tour cast, I was not as blown away by the play as the success seemed to warrant. The aforementioned populist casting seemed to have driven a so-so ghostly tale into success beyond its quality, and with th...

A Small Mind At The Theatre

Search This Blog