Strictly Come Dancing The Live Tour: a night of tantalising extras and just a little drama - Birmingham Arena, review
There was a barrage of screams when Stacey Dooley won last year’s Strictly Come Dancing, but most of them were aimed not at the BBC documentary-maker, but at her dance partner, Kevin Clifton. The Grimsby-born professional, long a favourite since he joined the show in 2013, had finally won the glitterball trophy after finishing runner-up four times in the past five series.
Clifton fell to the floor in tears when the result was announced last December, before being hoisted high by his fellow pro dancers and given the bumps. With the added boost of winning the public vote, it was as if all his Christmases had come at once, especially at the end of a difficult year that saw him and his wife, fellow Strictly dancer Karen Hauer, divorce.
There will, then, be a large number of fans eager to see Clifton and Dooley in action again on the annual Strictly Tour – but disappointment awaits them. His star firmly in the ascent, Clifton is now touring with the West End musical Rock of Ages, and therefore taking no part in the 29-show run. It’s a good indication of the career-boosting power of the BBC show.
This is also the first time that a winning couple haven’t featured on the tour, a popular annual event that’s now in its 12th year, with the essence of an entire series condensed into each evening and the glitterball repeatedly up for grabs. Clifton – who won the tour trophy 11 times with Susan Calman last year – was missed on the opening night in Birmingham. But there was a popular substitute for Dooley in Alja? ?korjanec, the Slovenian dancer who elicits the wildest screams of all from audience members of all ages.
In fact, the whole line-up of this year’s tour is something of a pick’n’mix. ?korjanec’s celebrity partner, newsreader Kate Silverton, doesn’t feature, and Hauer dances not with actor Charles Venn but with former cricketer Graeme Swann, whose partner Oti Mabuse has been plucked by the BBC to star as a judge in current Saturday-night talent show The Greatest Dancer. (The Strictly magic has worked wonders for her, too.) Shamed comedian Seann Walsh and troubled Blue singer Lee Ryan (who quit his festive panto run halfway through an actual performance) are also both notably absent.
This is perhaps a move for the better, given the former’s romantic liaison with married partner Katya Jones, which threatened to damage the franchise’s clean-cut, family appeal. (Indeed, last year’s series seemed to have generated more romantic entanglements than ever before.) After all, the tour is a chance for younger fans to experience the show – given that the live TV audience is over-14s only – and they come en masse, dressed in glittery tops and deeleyboppers and waving banners in a bid to attract attention from their favourite duos.
On the opening night, not even a flurry of snow could dampen their spirits as 10,000 eager fans decamped to the Arena for what was to be an excellent night of sheer entertainment. Directed by TV judge Craig Revel Horwood, the tour has always been a crowd-pleasing delight. But with the addition of head judge Shirley Ballas joining her colleagues on the panel for the first time, it now feels the complete Strictly experience.
And being the tour, there were a few tantalising extras: Bruno Tonioli forgot to button up his shirt as he took to the floor to sing Renato Carosone’s Tu Vuò Fa L’Americano, No1 dancing queen Dame Darcey Bussell treated us to an elegant routine with the pros and Ballas Cha Cha Cha’d her way to the front of the Arena to show just why she’s 10-time US Latin American Champion. Meanwhile, endearing host Ore Oduba and Revel Horwood recreated Ashley and Pasha’s tabletop, cloth-whipping trick from their Blues Brother’s Jive and there was even a fun dance lesson for the audience to the Strictly theme tune.
At the business end of the competition, Faye Tozer looked every inch the Hollywood star for her perfect-scoring Showdance, while her Lonely Goatherd Charleston was a hoot and the highlight of the night, if not somewhat overshadowed by four dancers goofing around more like football mascots in furry, fancy-dress costumes than professionals with 20 years’ experience. The crowd and the judges lapped it up, of course, and Tozer rightly topped the leaderboard.
“What would you do if someone else got their mitts on the glitterball?” Oduba asked champion Dooley. “Oh, I’d kick off. I’d get the hump,” she replied. Well, Dooley will have to lick her wounds, because without Clifton by her side and despite foot-stomping applause for her Paso Doble, it was social media star Joe Sugg and his now-girlfriend Dianne Buswell who were crowned winners.
Their roof-thatcher Charleston displayed improved partnering, and so wild was their rock ’n’ roll Showdance that they took a tumble and came crashing to the floor. Revel Horwood gave them a score of two out of 10, while the audience awarded them rapturous applause and deafening cheers. As they say, that’s showbiz!
Until February 10. Tickets: strictlycomedancinglive.com