Strictly Ballroom (1992) is the first instalment in Baz Luhrmann’s Red Curtain Trilogy (followed by Romeo+Juliet and Moulin Rouge). The film inspired British TV classic Strictly Come Dancing and also, apparently, a musical. I looked into it and, yes. Not to worry. Baz did actually have a lot of involvement with the musical which actually brings the whole thing full circle as the original production was written as a stage play whilst Baz was at university. Nice!
Now it’s a tale as old as time that adaptations always end up scrutinised to within an inch of their diluted lives and the outcome is not always pleasant. I bring good tidings, however; the musical wasn’t half bad! By the time it came around to our local big theatre a few of the cast members had been taken by the lurgy and so some swapping around and understudying was done but to be honest with you you wouldn’t have known if the understudy cast list hadn’t gone up. It was perfectly polished as far as I could parse.
Scott. Scott! Mr Protagonist Scott. Played by Kevin Clifton (Strictly Star, and as I said the play inspired the film inspired Strictly inspired the musical so really it only makes sense they cast him) he was pretty much everything you’d want out of a leading man. Handsome, good at dancing, never missed a cue and miraculously never dropped his pseudo-Australian accent which is more than I can say for everyone else. Not much to say about it really. And perhaps I am being biased as film-Scott (Paul Mercurio) already did an incredible job of portraying a spoilt, self-absorbed Ballroom dancer. To be fair on Kevin, though, he did really sell the head-up-his-own-arsnes of Scott’s character fairly well. Fran (Maisie Smith, EastEnders star), our other protagonist, was also good. Accent was good. Dancing was good. Projected her voice well. Neither of them blew me away and perhaps that’s harsh but truthfully I don’t really care. For a musical that’s about the over-the-top cheesy glitz, glam and inherent bitchyness of 90s ballroom I spent the whole production thinking that I’d rather just be watching the film.
I have to give it to the costume department though- they saved the whole production. I assumed it was going to be a Duke-Box musical as is Baz’s typical style (three songs from the film were used but I give them 0 credit for that because they were already in the film so that’s just cheating really) but that unfortunately wasn’t the case. It was just chock-full of shit original ballads that really messed with the flow- Baz has a reputation for fast, whirling editing and that could have been translated somewhat well to stage but I feel as if there wasn’t even an attempt. Plus, as mentioned, the songs were absolute bollocks. One after the other in some cases.
So yeah. There’s actually three things that saved the production for me.
First- the costumes; which were, to be truthful, insanely good. Like Toddlers in Tiaras and Dirty Dancing had a big glittery costume baby.
2) Doug Hastings (Mark Sangster). He was so brilliant! He doesn’t really have a large part in musical or film but I’ll be damned if he didn’t make every second count. Charm? Check. Comedic timing? Check. Obscure acting background that confuses you and you ask yourself why he isn’t more successful? Check. What a guy.
And finally. The third and, if not most worthy of praise, final reason. Rico (Jose Agudo)- Fran’s uncle. Holy moly shit and fuck that guy could dance. You remember the scene in the film where Scott is getting absolutely schooled in the way of Flamenco by Fran’s Uncle? Yes, I hear you say, it’s one of the best scenes in the film. My friend. Mi amigo. Mi padre. Nothing compares to the stage version of this scene. Jose Agudo, who actually has his own dance company the Augo Dance Company, goes absolutely bananas crazy and delivers what must be at least ten solid minutes of the most technically impressive flamenco choreography my two eyes have ever seen. I always wish the scene in the film was longer and by Jove the stage musical delivered that deliciously. We as the audience simply sat back in silent awe as the guy’s feet turned into essentially just a blur on stage. Mad shit.
Conclusion- eh. It was eh. My advice? If you’re a big fan of the film then go see the musical. And then immediately watch the film afterwards and the film becomes ten times better. But after seeing Jose do his Flamenco..I am changed forever.
Young Critics North Wales 