Flashdance the Musical - Bradford

Reviewed By: Don Gillan

Based on the 1983 hit film of the same name, this musical has all the elements of a top class show - great music (give or take one or two less memorable numbers), fantastic dancing, and some stirling individual performances. Unfortunately, the plus points are offset by too many failings to place it in that category. The story is essentially the same as the film, but the music is more integrated so that it is performed by the characters rather than used as background. Unfortunately it lacks the pace and direction of the film, and the characterisations are disapointingly weak. Furthermore the two halves are unbalanced so that the much longer first act has most of the big numbers whilst the shorter second carries the meat of the competing storylines. As a result the whole feels a little disjointed. This is undoubtedly a good show, but the disappoinment is that it could have been a great one.

The biggest problem is that the main characters just don't really engage us enough. Consequently we end up being rather more involved with the back stories surrounding the much more interesting characters of Gloria and Jimmy than we are with the main thread about Alex and hum-drum Nick. And we can blame that in no small part on fantastic performances from Bruno Langley (formerly 'Tod' in TV's Coronation Street) as Jimmy, and Ruthie Stevens as Gloria. Bruno is hugely underused in this piece given that he has a great voice never hinted at in his TV appearances. But Ruthie for me was the real star of the show in a superbly balanced performance as the naive and eager Gloria, the only character we really cared about. Her dancing skills were not severely tested but she has a great voice and sings with real conviction making her rendition of 'The Long Way Home' one of the highlights of the show, as was 'Gloria' - which she starts touchingly alone before being joined by Carryl Thomas (Keisha) and Djalenga Scott (Jazmin) when the tempo steps up. Victoria Hamilton-Barrit dances and sings extremely well (if a little quietly at times) as steel-worker Alex, she definitely has star potential as soon as the right vehicle comes along (I don't think this is it). Noel Sullivan as Nick, although in fine voice, is the unfortunate victim of eminently forgettable material, but Bernie Nolan, as Hannah Owen, continues to prove that whatever you may have thought of the Nolan sisters as a pop group, their credentials on the musical stage are beyond reproach.

The ensemble, which includes a couple of impressive acrobatic dancers, are talented and hard-working and do deliver a great deal of passion, putting all they had in to the show in trying to supply that missing element. The band, likewise, give of their best and sound great, except when they are (almost painfully) over-amplified.

The set is consists of a floor of rusty steel panels, polished shiny in places by use, with steel panelled walls topped by high factory windows through which a cityscape is visible beyond, and with a metal gantry suspended from the ceiling. This serves for the steel mill and even the dancing academy, but the two narrow sliding panels in the foreground that provide an alternative drop for other locations are less than convincing.

All in all, this is something of a mixed bag, at times brilliant, at times distinctly second rate, and this applies equally as much to the choreography as it does to the music. But all in all, this is a fun night out with many enjoyable elements - don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed,

© Stage Beauty, 2/10/08

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