Strictly Ballroom - WYP / Piccadilly / Tour

Sharing is caring, anthony40 , or were you bound by some sort of Australian code of honour? 

Kevin and Masie have been doing the media rounds for a couple of weeks.

I suspect it was all BBC contract related, then C19 messed it up, so poor Kevin has had to soil himself with Rock of Ages to stay solvent waiting for this to happen. (I know that the SITR producers wanted Kevin from the get go but he was only available for bits of it).

She can definitely scrape her hair back into a bun. That’s all I’ve got.

I wonder if they've taken that character out tbh and gone back a little more to the structure it had at West Yorkshire Playhouse?

Oh dear, where to start with this new production?! I knew I shouldn't have trusted something by Craig Revel Horwood after sitting through his version of Chess. I absolutely love the film, have seen it so many times I know the script. I really enjoyed the stage show in Leeds a few years ago, which had such a quality cast but this was like a very poor relative. Almost every choice in it was awful - the set is weird and reminded me of a Hobbit house, it looks like wooden arches, with a few bits that move on & off and it completely shrinks the stage. The floor space is tiny so not much room for the couples to dance around (I appreciate it is touring to various size venues but the Sunderland Empire has quite a large stage which wasn't utilised). Costumes look quite cheap. There are random parts they have made quite smutty now, for no good reason - for example, when Fran cleans the floor and then Liz walks through and slips, her dress is pulled off so she is left standing in her underwear. Why? There is unnecessary swearing (multiple uses of the F word). While the film was funny and warm, this almost seemed like a joke version of it. The only redeeming part was Kevin Clifton. He had a believable Australian accent and I was pleasantly surprised by his singing voice, he's clearly put work into wanting to be in musicals. Beautiful Surprise was a decent duet between the leads, the best of the new songs. I know he's wanted to do this show for a long time so I feel quite sorry for him at the quality of this production, he (and the fans of Strictly Ballroom) deserves better.

I couldn’t find a thread for this.

Saw this in Glasgow this afternoon. I had seen the show during it’s west end run with Matt Cardle and, while not perfect, was enjoyable, funny and moving in some places.

This version on tour was a disappointment in comparison. It is less juke box with only Time After Time, Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps and Love Is In The Air remaining. Original songs have been added and are dismal and forgettable.

The only saving grace were the two leads Kevin Clifton and Faye Brooks who try to bring some sparkle to an otherwise dull show.