Flashdance the Musical

The Alhambra

BY day she's a welder, by night she's an exotic club dancer. It was always an unlikely scenario, but somehow it worked, and Flashdance has been an enduring Eighties classic since it hit cinema screens 35 years ago.

Its thrilling score - not least the Oscar-winning Flashdance...What a Feeling - was an instant floor-filler, and you wonder why it took so long for anyone to turn it into a musical. I first saw it a decade ago and loved it.

Now the show is back at the Alhambra, and last night's opening performance had the audience on its feet.

Starring former Strictly Come Dancing champion Joanne Clifton as Alex Owens - the Pittsburgh girl in a man's world who dreams of making it as professional dancer - it's a dazzling, slick production that races along at a cracking pace.

It's essentially the story of dreams and ambition, set against the struggle of working-class life in a recession-hit industrial town. Alex is a grafter, one of the guys in her day job at the steelworks, and when she takes off her welding mask she's down at Harry's nightclub, lighting up the floor with her trademark water dance.

When she begins a relationship with her boss, it leads to uncomfortable power games and, ultimately, a leap of faith.

Overall, the plot's a bit flimsy and it all builds up to THAT audition - the scene from the movie that my generation remember watching on Top of the Pops. If you were a teenage girl back then, as I was, chances are you danced around the living-room in a leotard, channelling your inner Jennifer Beals. That Flashdance feeling never really goes away, and last night's audience was largely made up of women who remember leg-warmers the first time around.

When Alex finally gets her audition at the Shipley Dance Academy (not that Shipley...this is Pittsburgh), it's a thrilling tribute to the Beals moves we know and love, then it all goes a bit Strictly, with Clifton leading an energetic Latin-inspired group dance. It's a nice touch, although maybe not for the purists.

The stark industrial backdrop, with scaffolding, steel pillars and iron bridges used well as stage sets and props, blended with neon-lit nightclubs and ballet school grace. A terrific cast delivered a series of breath-taking, high energy routines, set to Matt Cole's slick, sexy choreography to a lively score that blended Eighties crowd-pleasers Maniac, Gloria and I Love Rock 'n' Roll with catchy numbers written for the show.

Joanne Clifton gave a scene-stealing performance as Alex, capturing the proud, sassy yet vulnerable nature of a blue collar girl who dares to dream big. It's a treat to see her dance - her energy levels are through the roof - and it turns out she's an impressive singer and actress too.

Ben Adams, as Alex's smooth-talking love interest Nick Hurley, was a charismatic charmer, with a layer of integrity beneath the designer shirts. Impressive performances too from Hollie-Ann Lowe as club dancer Gloria, who falls into a seedy underworld of addiction and exploitation, Matt Concannon as creepy nightclub owner CC and Sia Dauda and Demmileigh Foster as Alex's sassy fellow dancers, Kiki and Tess.

Flashdance the Musical is a brash, fast-paced homage to the Eighties - a world of bubble perms, fluorescent leotards, double denim and garish neon lights - and a touching tale of battling the odds.

A nostalgic treat.

Runs until Saturday.