Palace Theatre
Manchester
13/9/08

by Laura

I was really excited after hearing that Bruno would be appearing in a UK tour of Flashdance The Musical - from what I'd heard about it, it sounded like something totally different to what Bruno had done before. I was looking forward to seeing him play a bad guy for a change, and I was also looking forward to hearing him sing! I know that Bruno often sings at charity events in Manchester and I'd heard him sing once before when he performed as Robbie Williams on Stars In Their Eyes, but this was ages ago and I honestly couldn't remember what he sounded like! Having heard his sister Edie sing during a show I saw in December last year though (I wasn't there to see her though, I didn't even know she was going to be in it), I could see that musical talent obviously runs in the family and if he sounds anything like his sister then he's going to sound amazing!

When the Flashdance dates were announced, I knew straightaway that I wanted to see it in Manchester. Even though Manchester is quite a long way for me to go, I love the city and I really feel at home there, having spent a lot of time in Manchester for various reasons over the last couple of years.

Tickets for the show had already been on sale for quite a while before Bruno was announced as being in the cast so I was worried that we might not be able to get good seats - I needn't have worried though as I managed to get tickets for me, my mum and Angie on row F in the stalls!

I was really excited about seeing the show, especially once it had started on its UK tour and the fantastic reviews had started to filter through, although September seemed to take absolutely ages to arrive.

Eventually though, 12^th September was finally here and so me and mum got ready for the long coach trip up to Manchester! It wasn't too bad a journey though and we finally arrived on time in Manchester 8 hours later. Originally, we had planned to go down to the theatre that evening and possibly try and get tickets for the show that night and also try and see if there was any chance to meet Bruno too - but after doing a bit of shopping that evening and spending a lot of money in Primark, it started to pour with rain so we just decided to settle into the hotel for the evening!!

The next day, we got up and decided to do a bit more shopping (where I spent even more in Primark!), and then we decided to head off to the theatre to see what was happening there.

We weren't there for long though when we received a nice surprise in the form of Angie! We hadn't been expecting to see her until a bit later on at the hotel, so it was a lovely unexpected surprise to see her so soon!

Whilst we stood outside the theatre having a bit of a catch up, it wasn't too long before we had another surprise in the form of a certain Mr Langley! It was lovely to see him again and he was as warm and friendly as ever. After exchanging hello's and hugs, we had a really nice chat and I also had a couple of photos taken with him, which Angie was more than happy to take!



Thanks Angie! xx

We then said our goodbyes as Bruno needed to go and do his vocal warm-up. We only had tickets for the evening performance, not the matinee, so we decided to go back to our hotel and have a bit of a rest before heading back to the theatre in the evening.

When we headed back later on, I took the opportunity to take a couple of photos outside the theatre, before we headed inside.





Once inside, we bought programmes and had a look at some of the merchandise on offer - I had my eye on an off the shoulder top but it was so expensive that I didn't bother to buy it in the end!

We then decided to head into the auditorium to take to our seats. I was amazed when we sat down at how close we were - I had sat on the same row for a performance of Godspell at the same theatre last year and it certainly hadn't seemed to be so close. We thought it looked like maybe a couple of rows had been taken out of the front or something and, after doing a bit of counting, we realised that we were right.

I was really pleased to see how busy the theatre was - in fact, I couldn't see one empty seat from where I was sitting so I think it must have been sold out or, at the very least, almost sold out. This was really great to see and I felt so pleased for the cast - it must be a great feeling to walk out on stage and see a full 1,998 capacity theatre staring back at you!

We didn't have to wait too long until the show started, although it did start slightly late, but only a couple of minutes or so late. Admittedly, I didn't really know what to expect from the show as I hadn't been familiar with the film until three days beforehand. I got the feeling that most of the audience were huge fans of the film and so going to see the show because of that - some were even dressed in Flashdance style clothing such as legwarmers! I had wanted to see the film before seeing the show though so had set aside some time to watch it three days ago. I really enjoyed the film, although I felt that it didn't really have much of a plot, much depth or much characterisation.  It was enjoyable though and the songs and dancing were great.  So much has been made of the infamous "water scene" though that I was surprised to see this happen so early on in the film.  Some of the articles about the musical mention this scene in the film and make a big deal out of it so I was expecting it to build to a big climax at the end or something.  It was a good film though and I was really looking forward to seeing how it compares with the musical!

Ultimately, I think that the musical has more depth, more of a plot and better characterisation than the film.

Flashdance The Musical is a fantastic production - very slick and enjoyable with fab performances from the cast on the whole.  The dancing and choreography is truly something special as well and utterly mesmerising. The choreography is perhaps very dated though but as the show is set in the 1980s, it's perfect for that era. I'm a big fan of dance and I love Strictly Come Dancing so it was a real treat for me to be able to watch Arlene Phillips' choreography come to life on stage. I thought the ensemble were all amazing dancers too and really brought the choreography alive, although I actually felt that they totally overshadowed Victoria Hamilton-Barritt's dancing abilities.  As Victoria is the main lead and her character Alex is supposed to be an amazing dancer, I was expecting her to be even better than everyone else and the one who stands out the most, but I felt that this wasn't the case.  I was expecting to be wowed by her dancing but I feel that there are stronger dancers in the cast – Djalenga Scott and Ruthie Stephens both impressing me more with their dance abilities, for example. I must admit that I also wasn't particularly enamoured by her voice as I felt that it was quite shrill and harsh. I much preferred Ruthie's softer voice. I was very impressed with her acting though, which was very strong and good, and her American accent was also very convincing and believeable. I think her acting was better than her singing and dancing, but she is obviously very talented so I hope we get to see more of her in the future as she is certainly a name to look out for.

It's Noel Sullivan, formerly of Hear'say, who takes on the lead male role of Nick Hurley, and I was very impressed by his singing especially - he's got a fantastic voice, which I don't think he was really able to show off when he was in the band. His American accent was also very good and I didn't detect any hint of his normal Welsh lilt. His acting was perhaps less convincing though and I'm not entirely sure whether I fully believed in him as the character. I'm also not sure whether I was fully convinced that Noel's Nick would be together with Victoria's Alex. They do have really tough shoes to fill though as Jennifer Beals and Michael Nouri were so good in the film and had such wonderful chemistry together. It's really difficult to step into the shoes of such iconic characters and actors but I do think that Victoria and Noel made a decent job of it.

For me personally though, the standout performers were Bruno, Bernie Nolan and Ruthie.  I felt that these three really stood out above everyone else and featured in some really strong and powerful scenes. One of the best scenes was when Ruthie's Gloria started to dance in the club but then stopped as she couldn't do it. I thought her acting here was really powerful and you really felt for the character and were really rooting for her too.  She's got quite a lot to do on stage as well, which is great, although I feel that Bruno and Bernie are both vastly underused.  They're two of the best things about the show but aren't on stage enough. But they really standout and shine during the moments that they do appear on stage.  They definitely deserve more stage time though.

I kind of agree to some extent with what one reviewer said about Jimmy providing "the irrelevant and insufficiently integrated sub plot", although I don't think this ends up being the case….it's something you might think at the start but I liked how his storyline ended up fitting in with Alex's world and her storyline, so it all tied up in the end.  And I thought the comparison between Alex and Jimmy was a strong one – how one incident can change people's directions in life. I was really interested by Jimmy's storyline and wish that more had been made of it as I was more interested in that than I was in the romance between Alex and Nick. I think Jimmy has a lot of depth to his character but, at the same time, I do think that the character could have been developed even further. I was disappointed that, after a major incident concerning Jimmy, we didn't have another scene with him and we never really found out what happened to him, although it doesn't take a genius to work out…..but it would have been nice to have his storyline rounded off a bit better.

I thought Bruno was absolutely fantastic though and you can see how much he has evolved as an actor since the days of Linda Green and Coronation Street - obviously he has concentrated mainly on theatre in recent years and I think this has been really good for his career as you can tell just how much he has learnt about his craft by performing on stage. He has also got a fantastic voice with a great tone and quality to it - I can't believe he's only ever sung at charity shows before, his voice is too good to have been hidden away for so long!  I really like the song he performs in the show, You Can't Keep Me Down, and the way it's staged is really good as well.  I disagree with what one reviewer said about the song being "fairly run-of-the-mill" though as I think it's one of the best new songs in the show, it's so catchy and I can‘t stop singing it!  But I agree with what the same reviewer said about how Bruno "totally transforms the scene" – he really really does and it's hard to imagine that anyone else would have been able to do it justice.  It was lovely to see that Bruno got a really good cheer after he performed his big number and definitely one of the biggest of the evening!

I thought his American accent was flawless too - it was so convincing and believeable and there was no sign of it slipping at all throughout the evening. I think he has the best American accent in the show, along with Victoria. I also thought he played the part of a good-kid-gone-bad really well, he gave a really dark and edgy performance but also a very sympathetic one so you did feel sorry for his character despite the bad things he has done.   And I loved his little bit of dancing at the end , although just sort of hand movements really, but he looked really coy and embarrassed at doing them!!

I thought the way he portrayed a drug user was fab too, he was so believeable and I totally agree with the reviewer that commented on his "jittery bravado" as I think that is so true and the perfect description for the way he played the part.  I also felt nervous when watching him, as I have felt in the past when coming across real life drug users, so I think his portrayal was very effective and very strong.

I also think that another reviewer's comment that Bruno gives Jimmy "a sympathetic restlessness that dovetails well with Alex's bullish demeanour" is another perfect way of describing Bruno's portrayal.

Apart from Bruno's You Can't Keep Me Down and Ruthie‘s powerful scene as Gloria, there were three other scenes which really stood out for me.  I thought the way they did Maniac was really cool and really effective – I liked how they performed it with different styles of music (rock, Cuban etc) and then had Keisha, Jazmin and Gloria singing it whilst Alex danced in her flat.  Jimmy's last proper scene was also really effective, especially how it faded to black and then introed into I Love Rock And Roll. And, finally, a nightmare sequence with Alex was really effective too, I loved how they did it and I think it really reflected her anguish and pain.

Overall, I thought it was a really good show – not flawless by any means, but fantastic and probably one of the best touring productions I've seen.  I think it would do well in the West End, especially as it's more than just another "jukebox musical".

We managed to have a brief chat with Bruno after the show as well and he confirmed that he and the rest of the cast are contracted to the show until June next year - so there are plenty of opportunities for you to go and see it!

If you're looking for a fun and enjoyable evening with great songs, amazing choreography and a fantastic cast, then this is the show for you!

I was sad to leave Manchester the next morning but I'm really looking forward to seeing the show again in Nottingham in January, and I can't wait to see how much the show has progressed then.

Thanks so much to my mum, Angie and Bruno for a great weekend!

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