Michael Cox reviews 'an enjoyable production that will surely entertain and be an audience favourite'.
With its theatricality, over-the-top characters and heavy use of music, Baz Luhrmann’s 90s film Strictly Ballroom was always a logical target for stage adaptation. In many ways, what’s odd is that it took decades to happen.
The story here is the same: ballroom dancer Scott Hastings has a lot of potential and is pipped to become a champion, but his desire to break from traditional steps and moves puts him at loggerheads with his family, his dance partner and the head of the competitive organisation. Can Scott rise against such antagonism, and might the mousy Fran, who’s an overlooked beginner at his family’s dance school, be the key?
As with the film, the musical plays out exactly as one can predict. However, it does so with such sincerity and joie de vivre that its inevitability doesn’t matter. It helps that Scott and Fran are two characters that are easy to root for—individually and as a pair.
This touring production has many strengths, much of it down to director and co-choreographer Craig Revel Horwood. Dance is well integrated throughout a well-balanced staging that is constantly engaging and peppered with numerous cheeky moments.
Horwood has also cast the production well. Kevin Clifton might not be the best singer or actor, but his genuineness wins through—and there is no surprise in his excellent dancing abilities. Faye Brooks is wonderful as Fran, and watching her inevitable growth in ability and confidence is one of the musical’s strengths. The rest of the cast prove to be solid triple threats, with standout performances by Gary Davis as the antagonistic head of the dance federation Barry Fife, along with Karen Mann’s Abuela and Jose Agudo’s Rico—Fran’s gran and father, who have what is easily the show’s most triumphant scene.
When Ballroom played in the West End it was a jukebox musical—Horwood has chosen to return to the original Australian concept and use a mix of classic pop songs and original music: an admirable decision, even if none of the new songs prove as memorable or potent as the selection of classics.
Which comes to the production’s unfortunate weakness: as fun as it is, it also feels like it’s holding itself back from going full gusto. In a pre-recorded message, Horwood promises a good night out—and he is absolutely correct: Strictly Ballroom is indeed an enjoyable production that will surely entertain and be an audience favourite. It just feels that buried within its glitz is a better production begging to be seen—much like our heroes.
Strictly Ballroom is at the Edinburgh Playhouse until May 13, 2023 before continuing its tour.
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