Flashdance the Musical - Bradford

Reviewed By: Emma Clayton

They brought Fame and Footloose to the stage so it was only a matter of time before Flashdance was given the theatrical treatment.

But, far from being yet another tired old Eighties pop musical, this show is a breath of fresh air with both style and substance.

If you know your Eighties pop culture you’ll know that Flashdance is the story of 18-year-old Alex Owens, a welder by day and exotic nightclub dancer by night. Sounds unlikely but somehow it works. This is Pittsburgh where the steel mills swallow up the school-leavers – until recession hits town.

Encouraged by her mother, Alex tries for a place at the Shipley Dance Academy (that’s Shipley in Pittsburgh not Bradford), but her lack of education and formal training holds her back. When she gets it together with her boss new opportunities arise, but not always on Alex’s terms.

From the striking opening number, with faceless steel workers toiling away to the haunting Working Men’s Orchestra, through to the rousing audition scene where Alex dances her leg-warmers off to achieve her dream, this show was hugely entertaining. Arlene Phillips’ terrific choreography whipped the action along to a catchy score; it was synth pop meets soft rock guitar and the lively audience wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Highlights included the powerful dream sequence, a lovely arrangement of Gloria and the rousing What a Feeling. It was refreshing that, despite being set in the Eighties, this was no retro fest of shoulder pads and puffball skirts. There were dodgy wigs and Hot Gossip-style raunchy numbers but the low-key set, all rusty steel and low lighting, created a believable urban downtown look. Victoria Hamilton-Barritt was terrific as all-singing, all-dancing tough cookie Alex. Move over Jennifer Beals! Little girls will leave the Alhambra wanting to be her.

Essentially this is a story of a girl and her dream but it’s also about friendship. Carryl Thomas, Djalenga Scott and Ruthie Stephens shone as the fiercely loyal dancing girls. Great performances too from Noel Sullivan as slick Nick, Bernie Nolan as Alex’s downtrodden mother and Bruno Langley as vulnerable bad boy Jimmy.

What a feeling!

© Telegraph & Argus Newspaper, 30/9/08

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