Flashdance The Musical, Shaftesbury Theatre | reviews, news & interviews
Flashdance The Musical, Shaftesbury Theatre
Flashdance The Musical, Shaftesbury Theatre
What a feeling? Where's the feeling in this lame retread of the iconic movie?
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Out of step: Victoria Hamilton-Barritt and friends in 'Flashdance'Brinkhoff/Mögenburg
They keep on coming, these screen-to-stage musical adaptations, noisy, bombastic, as unsubtle as juggernauts. The best of them offer up their uncomplicated entertainment with some pizazz; but Flashdance is a particularly vacuous example of the genre. You probably had to be female, and teetering on the edge of your teens, to enjoy Adrian Lyne’s critically derided film back in 1983 (I freely admit that I was, and I did): Tom Hedley and Joe Eszterhas’s screenplay is both shapeless and pointless. This new version, written by Hedley and Robert Cary and directed by Nikolai Foster, does nothing to improve upon it.
They keep on coming, these screen-to-stage musical adaptations, noisy, bombastic, as unsubtle as juggernauts. The best of them offer up their uncomplicated entertainment with some pizazz; but Flashdance is a particularly vacuous example of the genre. You probably had to be female, and teetering on the edge of your teens, to enjoy Adrian Lyne’s critically derided film back in 1983 (I freely admit that I was, and I did): Tom Hedley and Joe Eszterhas’s screenplay is both shapeless and pointless. This new version, written by Hedley and Robert Cary and directed by Nikolai Foster, does nothing to improve upon it.
The staging of the dance numbers ranges from dull to laughable
Share this article
more Theatre
Black Superhero, Royal Court review - ambitious, but messy
Debut play about sex, race and queerness is a disappointing mishmash
Dance of Death, National Theatre of Norway, Coronet Theatre review - straight for the jugular
White-heat Strindberg from Norwegian actors undeterred by technical hitches
The Way Old Friends Do, Park Theatre review - sweet, but flimsy
Mark Gatiss and Ian Hallard’s ABBA tribute is fun, but clunky
Further Than the Furthest Thing, Young Vic review - small island longings
Empathetic revival of Zinnie Harris’s 2000 play about a lost world
Marjorie Prime, Menier Chocolate Factory review - superbly acted chiller about a contemporary crisis
Pulitzer finalist asks how good an ally is modern technology
Guys and Dolls, Bridge Theatre review - exuberant new production of the 1950 masterpiece
Nicholas Hytner and a crack cast deliver a fresh take on the classic musical
Under the Black Rock, Arcola Theatre review - political thriller turns soapy
Evanna Lynch heads up wan troubles-themed dark comedy
Shirley Valentine, Duke of York's Theatre review - Sheridan Smith slays it
Willy Russell's play gets a renewed lease of life
The New Electric Ballroom, Gate Theatre, Dublin review - fantasy and memory hauntingly interwoven
Enda Walsh's second drama on now about ritualised isolation is mesmerising
The Great British Bake Off Musical, Noel Coward Theatre review - blue-chip cast lift daft confection
It's more adult panto than mature musical, with the sauce liberally ladled on
Brilliant Jerks, Southwark Playhouse review - busy three-hander casts a biting glance toward Uber
Joseph Charlton's 2018 play revived on the back of his subsequent West End success
Sleepova, Bush Theatre review - sweet coming of age play with a soft centre
A vivacious cast are great fun to hang out with
Add comment