Reviewed by Dorothy White
Last night I visited Milton Keynes Theatre to see Flashdance the Musical. Like most people I had heard ‘What a Feeling’ many times, but had not realised it was the opening number from Flashdance!
Tom Hedley originally wrote the screenplay for Flashdance in the 1980’s, nobody expected it to be the huge hit it turned out to be – one of the three most successful films of 1983. He later returned to it 25 years later in 2008 and rewrote it along with Robert Cary. Flashdance the Musical was born. It hit the West End in 2010 after premiering at Theatre Royal Plymouth for five months.
A story of a group of young people in Pittsburgh who lived from hand to mouth in the rough end of town, dreaming of making it big time. Alex Owens (Joanne Clifton) was a welder by day and an exotic dancer by night, she dreamed of getting into ballet school despite having no qualifications. Alex’s friend Gloria (Hollie-Ann Lowe) was desperate to get on television and would do anything to further her career. Kiki (Sia Dauda) and Tess (Demmileigh Foster) were always there to support and encourage both Alex and Gloria. Nick Hurley (Ben Adams) was the wealthy factory manager who objected to making redundancies at his steel mill.
The day to day costumes were in keeping with the times and storyline, the purple and green leotards were my favourites.
The scenery was really effective, with scene changes cleverly taking place in front of the audience. The lighting was great, but a couple of times I was blinded by bright lights on stage beaming into the audience, maybe this was done deliberately in order to make certain scene changes? The end of Act 1 was fantastic!
The music was great, at the very end the curtains opened to show the ‘Band’ playing live backstage!
The show ended with the entire audience on their feet clapping and singing along with the cast.
An excellent show with fantastic music, singing and dancing.
Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost from £17 to £55 (plus £2.85 transaction fee).
Flashdance the Musical is at Milton Keynes Theatre from 16-21 July 2018, for more information or to book tickets visit www.atgtickets.com/venues/milton-keynes-theatre or call the box office on 0844 8717652.
Milton Keynes Theatre, 500 Marlborough Gate, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK9 3NZ
