Strictly Ballroom The Musical is based on the popular film. It’s a great show to see on stage, with amazing dance routines throughout the whole show. Here’s my theatre review of Strictly Ballroom The Musical.
Overview of Strictly Ballroom The Musical
Strictly Ballroom The Musical is based on the story from the 1992 film. If you know the film, my theatre review of Strictly Ballroom The Musical won’t give any new spoilers! It follows the story of Scott, who is competing in dance competitions, hoping to win the championship. However, he tries to dance his own original steps, rather than sticking to the traditional ballroom steps. The judges aren’t impressed, and his dance partner leaves him.
Scott then starts dancing with Fran. Fran is a beginner dancer, who is slightly awestruck by Scott, but isn’t the best dancer. However, the more they dance together, the closer they get. Scott meets Fran’s family, and the two start to fall in love. We also learn more about Scott’s parents history, and how his dad also tried to dance his own steps in dancing competitions before leaving dancing. The show ends with Scott and Fran dancing in a competition together, dancing their own steps.
Check out the Strictly Ballroom UK tour here.
What I liked about Strictly Ballroom The Musical
I saw a production of Strictly Ballroom The Musical with Kevin Clifton playing the main character, Scott. Kevin Clifton is famous from being on the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing. He’s an amazing dancer, and his dancing talent definitely made this show extra special. He was just amazing at all the dancing, and made it look so effortless. He was also really good at singing as well. I definitely wouldn’t have enjoyed the show anywhere near as much without Kevin Clifton playing the main part.
I enjoyed the dance routines in the show, and some of the songs were really nice too. There were some nice soppy songs and soppy moments between Scott and Fran, which I really liked! It was an enjoyable show.
What I wasn’t so sure about
I enjoyed this show overall, but there were a lot of aspects I wasn’t so sure about. The storyline was fairly basic and not super interesting. The main plot point was that Scott wanted to dance slightly different steps in a dance competition. There was a lot of drama over Scott’s choice. But, in reality, it’s not that big an issue. I mean, not compared to all the hardships someone can face in the world. I would have enjoyed the show more if there had been more plot points than just some different dance steps.
While there were some nice dances and songs, there were others that I wasn’t so keen on. I often wasn’t so keen on the group songs – they didn’t really add to the story, and I wasn’t so keen on the style of music.
Some of the other characters were a bit weird too. One of the dance judges looked really like Donald Trump – especially the hair. And he had two scenes where he was in bed, with some weird songs and four men in white underwear were dancing around him. It added nothing to the plot, and was just weird seeing Donald Trump in bed for no reason. And there was another weird scene, where all the older people in the show were suddenly wearing pink sequins and Elvis wigs, and I couldn’t quite work out why. So alongside the nice scenes with Scott and Fran, there were other parts I wasn’t so keen on.
Would I recommend Strictly Ballroom The Musical
I’d recommend Strictly Ballroom The Musical – but probably only if the main character is played by Kevin Clifton or someone equally talented. There were quite a few aspects of the show I wasn’t so keen on. But the amazing dancing and singing by Kevin Clifton, and the nice soppy moments between Scott and Fran, made this show good overall.