Royal Concert Hall
Nottingham
24/1/09

by Laura

N.B: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS

As soon as we heard that Flashdance would be visiting Nottingham in the New Year we knew it would be a great opportunity to meet up with Angie again. Angie booked the tickets shortly after we returned from seeing the show in Manchester in September, but we were surprised at how quick January came around! We didn’t seem to have to wait very long at all before meeting up and seeing the show again.

I was really looking forward to seeing the show again and seeing how it had changed and developed since Manchester, and I was also looking forward to catching up with Angie.

So, with January finally here, we met up with Angie on a cold morning in Nottingham. It felt strange being back there again as the last time we were in Nottingham was to see Bruno in A Taste Of Honey, although the weather was a lot warmer then!

After having a bit of a catch-up and doing some shopping (Primark, where else, hahaha!), we decided to head towards the theatre to see if there was any chance of saying a quick hello to Bruno before the show.

We didn’t have to wait too long before he arrived, looking more dressed for summer in his sunglasses!! :D It was really lovely seeing him again, although I always wonder whether he minds us stopping to chat to him but I think it’s nice to just stop to say hello and show him our support….and if he did mind then I’m sure he’d let us know!! He was really nice and kind to us though and it was lovely having a bit of a chat with him. I also had my picture taken with him, which my mum kindly took, despite being a bit of a novice at taking photos. I think she did brilliantly though!



Soon it was time to say goodbye to Bruno though as we headed off to enjoy a rather lovely meal at Strada, before heading back to the theatre to settle down for the show!

By the time we got back to the theatre, there was only around 5 minutes until the show was due to start so there wasn’t time to hang around, although me and Angie did stop to buy the brand new souvenir brochure they had in stock (full of lots of glossy photos from the show, although not enough of Bruno!), and I also bought another programme.

We then went to take our seats. I was really looking forward to seeing the show from a different view this time as we were sitting in the centre whereas we were sat on the left hand side in Manchester. It was also going to be good seeing the show from an even closer view, just 4 rows from the front!

It was fantastic seeing the show again and seeing how it has evolved since Manchester - and it really has come on in leaps and bounds. You can really see the improvement and development. The show was fantastic when I saw it before, of course, but it’s just even better now, especially the performances from certain actors and actresses as well.

For a start, I think Victoria Hamilton-Barritt has really improved so much and was simply amazing. I must admit that I didn’t really think much to her before as I found her voice to be too harsh and her dancing to be completely overshadowed by the ensemble dancers. But she has really toned down her voice and her dancing has improved by miles too. She really stood out for me and was definitely the star of the night and exactly how a leading lady should be! It’s possible that she was having a bad night in Manchester which is why she wasn’t as good as I had been expecting, or maybe my expectations of her were low this time round so I wasn’t expecting so much from her. She was particularly good during the nightmare sequence after she has found out about her mother’s death, especially at the end of that scene when she screams in agony and falls to the floor as the full realisation of what happens hits her. But, although the improvement in Victoria’s performance was amazing, I still think the audition scene at the end is a little disappointing and not as good as it should be.

As Victoria was just so good this time round, I didn’t find Ruthie Stephens to be as good as she was before. In Manchester, she had been the standout actress for me but in Nottingham, she didn’t really stand out for me.

Also showing a lot of improvement was Noel Sullivan, whose acting I had found to be quite wooden and unconvincing before, but this time round he was a lot more natural and believeable in the role, and you can see how much his acting has improved.

Bruno was still fantastic in the role of Jimmy, although I still think that his storyline needs to be integrated a bit better into the show as it still feels a bit tacked on and not as developed as it could and should be.  But he was really good and you can hear how much stronger his voice has got as well.  It was also interesting to be closer to the front this time because we were able to see every expression on his face during You Can’t Keep Me Down – I thought he did an amazing job of portraying Jimmy’s madness with the dancers around him being the voices inside his head.  The madness was really etched on every expression on his face. I also think it’s good how he keeps his American accent throughout the song. It must be quite a difficult thing to do but he did it really well and I didn’t notice his accent faltering once.

I think he has the most complex and interesting role to play, and perhaps the most difficult one too, but he does it so well that it’s a real shame he isn’t given more to do.

The show hasn’t really changed much from when I saw it last, although there is one major edit I noticed. Before, there was a scene where Keisha, Jazmin and Gloria performed solo dances to different versions of Maniac. Like Jazmin performed to a Cuban style version of Maniac and Gloria performed to a rock style version. Well this has now gone and is no longer in the show. I was quite disappointed to see it gone as it was one of the scenes that stood out for me in Manchester. Although I can understand why they have taken it out as the first half was perhaps too long and that scene was probably the only one they could take out and not disrupt the flow of the story.

There was also another minor edit I noticed, although I’m not sure whether it has actually been taken out or whether it was a mistake on the night. When Jimmy shoots Hannah, the gun is supposed to go off but for some reason it didn’t in Nottingham; Jimmy just pointed the gun at her and then the scene faded to black. Unfortunately, this really lessened the dramatic impact of that scene and made it a lot less powerful than it was when I saw it in Manchester. I also think it might have confused audience members who hadn’t seen the show before as it didn’t make it entirely clear that Hannah had actually been shot.

It was a great show though and it was good to hear the sound quality of the show being so much clearer too. In Manchester, the sound was quite static and crackly but it was clear as anything hear in Nottingham! I was also pleased to see Bruno getting a really good cheer when he came out to take his bow at the end!

It was fantastic seeing the show again and seeing how it has evolved in the last few months, and I really can’t wait to see it again in Ipswich the week after my birthday in April!

Thanks so much to my mum, Angie and Bruno for another great day!

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