Strictly Ballroom Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh 9th May 2023 Review
Strictly Ballroom the Musical is at the Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh this week (Mon 8 May - Sat 13 May), and if you are a fan of the hugely popular television show “Strictly Come Dancing”, and one dancer in particular, Kevin Clifton, who stars in the lead role of Scott Hastings, then you will probably want to see this show.
This is probably the point to make it clear that, although this show has very close connections with other people involved in “Strictly”, and despite the fact that Craig Revel Horwood is both director and co-choreographer too, this is not a stage show based on the television series. Instead, this is based upon on a critically acclaimed stage play, originally set up in 1984 by Baz Luhrmann and fellow students during his studies whilst attending the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney.
From this early stage show, Baz Luhrmann went on to co-write and direct the now iconic Australian film “Strictly Ballroom” in 1992 starring Paul Mercurio and Tara Morice. The current format, Strictly Ballroom the musical, again with Baz Luhrmann input (book), took to the Australian Stage in 2014, and the rest as they say is history as the show has been a hit in many countries.
I have to admit to being a fan of the film, it was an insight into the world of competitive dance and Baz Luhrmann had both his own experiences and observations of many people around him to base this almost dual personality world upon. Here we got a glimpse of the often forced smiles on the dancefloor to the all too often cut-throat and vicious world that lay behind closed doors. This film was a sharp observational parody with razor sharp humour and one-liners. It was also a story of finding your own inner self whilst finding true love along the way.
What has gone wrong with this show? I don’t really have an answer to that, but so much of what I loved in the film has, for me, been lost in translation, lost in adapting “Strictly Ballroom” to a stage musical and, given that everything, original stage show, film, and stage musical share the creative input of the original creator, then I am puzzled.
Perhaps some of the problem is that, almost by default, there is so much dance that has to be put into this show that little time is left to explore more than the central relationship between Scott Hastings and Fran (Faye Brookes). There is no doubt that Kevin Clifton has the dance credentials and experience to really understand this role. He has also been creating a real space for himself in musical theatre over the years in other similar dance based shows and, to be fair, his vocal talents were a pleasant surprise. Something, however, made his dance performances seem almost separate from the rest of the show at times, creating an odd dislocation in what should have been “Romeo and Juliet” on the dancefloor. More than a few times, it was Faye Brookes as Fran who was the more memorable in their scenes together. Still, it was Kevin Clifton as himself on the dance-floor who was obviously giving many people in this audience exactly what they had come out to see. Also to look like you cannot do something is very difficult as you are fighting your own body’s muscle memory, and as a four time British Latin American Champion, Kevin knows better than most people how to perform some of the major dance scenes in this show.
For most shows, I would consider it a negative that characters were such stereo-typed caricatures, but that was how we were meant to see many of these people and here it worked well, but often left us only with the sharper and unpleasant edge of some personalities.
A rather weak Act I did more than redeem itself in Act II and the music also kept the story and the dance flowing with ease throughout the show. Nice to hear again, “Love is In The Air”, “Time After Time”, a reworking of “The Habanera” from Bizet’s Carmen, and more than a few good original songs written for this show.
Strictly Ballroom the Musical is for most of us a good night out at the theatre, but for anyone involved in the world of competitive dancing there are undoubtedly many “in jokes” and probably more than a few people that they recognise up there on stage. There must be more than a few mothers like Shirley Hastings (Michelle Buckley) out there in the competitive dance world (probably a few fathers too).
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This is probably the point to make it clear that, although this show has very close connections with other people involved in “Strictly”, and despite the fact that Craig Revel Horwood is both director and co-choreographer too, this is not a stage show based on the television series. Instead, this is based upon on a critically acclaimed stage play, originally set up in 1984 by Baz Luhrmann and fellow students during his studies whilst attending the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney.
From this early stage show, Baz Luhrmann went on to co-write and direct the now iconic Australian film “Strictly Ballroom” in 1992 starring Paul Mercurio and Tara Morice. The current format, Strictly Ballroom the musical, again with Baz Luhrmann input (book), took to the Australian Stage in 2014, and the rest as they say is history as the show has been a hit in many countries.
I have to admit to being a fan of the film, it was an insight into the world of competitive dance and Baz Luhrmann had both his own experiences and observations of many people around him to base this almost dual personality world upon. Here we got a glimpse of the often forced smiles on the dancefloor to the all too often cut-throat and vicious world that lay behind closed doors. This film was a sharp observational parody with razor sharp humour and one-liners. It was also a story of finding your own inner self whilst finding true love along the way.
What has gone wrong with this show? I don’t really have an answer to that, but so much of what I loved in the film has, for me, been lost in translation, lost in adapting “Strictly Ballroom” to a stage musical and, given that everything, original stage show, film, and stage musical share the creative input of the original creator, then I am puzzled.
Perhaps some of the problem is that, almost by default, there is so much dance that has to be put into this show that little time is left to explore more than the central relationship between Scott Hastings and Fran (Faye Brookes). There is no doubt that Kevin Clifton has the dance credentials and experience to really understand this role. He has also been creating a real space for himself in musical theatre over the years in other similar dance based shows and, to be fair, his vocal talents were a pleasant surprise. Something, however, made his dance performances seem almost separate from the rest of the show at times, creating an odd dislocation in what should have been “Romeo and Juliet” on the dancefloor. More than a few times, it was Faye Brookes as Fran who was the more memorable in their scenes together. Still, it was Kevin Clifton as himself on the dance-floor who was obviously giving many people in this audience exactly what they had come out to see. Also to look like you cannot do something is very difficult as you are fighting your own body’s muscle memory, and as a four time British Latin American Champion, Kevin knows better than most people how to perform some of the major dance scenes in this show.
For most shows, I would consider it a negative that characters were such stereo-typed caricatures, but that was how we were meant to see many of these people and here it worked well, but often left us only with the sharper and unpleasant edge of some personalities.
A rather weak Act I did more than redeem itself in Act II and the music also kept the story and the dance flowing with ease throughout the show. Nice to hear again, “Love is In The Air”, “Time After Time”, a reworking of “The Habanera” from Bizet’s Carmen, and more than a few good original songs written for this show.
Strictly Ballroom the Musical is for most of us a good night out at the theatre, but for anyone involved in the world of competitive dancing there are undoubtedly many “in jokes” and probably more than a few people that they recognise up there on stage. There must be more than a few mothers like Shirley Hastings (Michelle Buckley) out there in the competitive dance world (probably a few fathers too).
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com