Scott Hastings is a prodigiously talented dancer, who is determined to create his own steps, thereby defying the corrupt, conservative president of the Australian Dance Federation, Barry Fife.
In the process, he ditches his glamorous, bespangled partner, Liz, for the dowdy, bespectacled newcomer, Fran.
Luhrmann originally wrote the story for the stage, to which director/choreographer Drew McOnie now returns it.
His version premiered unremarkably in Leeds two years ago; since then, it has been radically rethought, with the notable addition of a compere cum narrator, Wally Strand, played exceptionally well by Will Young, who also sings almost the entire score, his sultry yet melancholy voice providing a rich emotional counterpart to the camp antics elsewhere.
Young steals the show, but there are delightful comic performances from Anna Francolini and Stephen Matthews as Scott’s parents, Lauren Stroud as Liz, Gerard Horan as Barry, along with impassioned ones from Fernando Mira and Eve Polycarpou as Fran’s father and aunt.
Jonny Labey and Zizi Strallen make a charming pair of fairy-tale lovers, the latter both deeply affecting and phenomenally loose-limbed.
Whether or not one agrees with Wally that “Life’s three most important things” are “love, freedom and sequins”, the show is a total delight.
(Tickets 0844 871 7630/strictlyballroomthemusical.com; £15-79)
