Alistair Darling is poised to give the go-ahead for a multi-billion-pound injection of capital into Britain's banks within a week
More...
Critics' Choice
TheatreNicholas de Jongh
Waste itself taxes, tests and stretches the mind, but what an overwhelming experience
Waste
Film
Derek Malcolm
This is a film which though less ambitious than Atonement is very much the equal of The Duchess
Brideshead Revisited
Comedy
Michael McIntyre is the most bankable banter merchant on the block
Reader reviews
RestaurantsNick, York
The service was almost perfect, there when you needed it but not in your face
Drama Queen, London
This was an utterly riveting piece of theatre; the best thing I've seen in the West End this year
Rob, Camden
What could have been a lovely pub in a beautiful location right near the park has been turned into something only the rich can enjoy
London,
English National Ballet: Strictly Gershwin
Your rating
Click on a star to rate
Royal Albert Hall
Click on a star to rate
Kensington Gore, SW7 2AP
Sarah Frater's rating
Reader rating
Add your review
Description: A mixed dance genre homage to George Gershwin, a journey through ballet, ballroom and tap dancing with a recreation of An American In Paris, The Man I Love and Rhapsody In Blue. Musical director is Gareth Valentine.
Trains: Tube: High Street Kensington; Bus: 9, 10, 52, 360 
Phone: 0207589 8212
Website: www.royalalberthall.com
Extra info: Pub, Food
Ballet lacks Hollywood ballyhoo
By Sarah Frater, Evening Standard 16.06.08
Starstruck: the dancers try to recreate MGM's blockbusters
At some point, someone got carried away with the idea of Strictly Gershwin and no one had the courage to stop them.
With obvious reference to Strictly Come Dancing, it's an all-singing, all-dancing show set to the unbeatable George and Ira. There are tap dancers, ballroom hoofers and pretty ballerinas, plus a big-band and five singers including Broadway's Barbara Cook. Lights, film and dry ice - and an in-the-round Royal Albert Hall - complete the popular package.
It sounds like a great idea, and potentially it is, until you remember that ENB is a ballet company and Strictly Gershwin is aiming for the grandeur only MGM managed.
This is jaw-dropping folly. No mid-scale ballet troupe can match a Hollywood studio yet here is ENB tilting at production numbers for which it has neither the heart nor the heft. There's a not-very-good illuminated stairway, not-very-good film projections, and a not-very-good version of An American In Paris.
The original is the stuff of legend, while the dancers in ENB's version, including the Royal Ballet's guesting Tamara Rojo, just look silly.
The evening includes smaller-scale duets, and these are more successful as they catch the music's mood rather than miss MGM's budgets. Agnes Oaks and Thomas Edur were on top form in The Man I Love, as were Daria Klimentova and Friedemann Vogel in Summertime.
Apart from these, the eyes saucer at the mistakes. Why project massive images of Fred and Ginger while so-so tappers sweat away? Fred and Ginger are legends. Douglas Mills and Paul Robinson are not. Why put your ballet dancers on rollerblades? Why put them on stage with Lilia Kopylova? The Russian fox-trotter has a plump, propulsive appeal that makes even the best ballerina look thin and mean and scrappy.
Strictly Gershwin is the work of Derek Deane, a one-time director of ENB who made its hugely successful in-the-round Swan Lake . That wowed arena audiences around the world but this Gershwin folly makes you cringe.
• Until 22 June (020 7838 3100).
Read the latest reviews from Sarah Frater in the Evening Standard
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader reviews (1)
Here's a sample of the latest reviews published. You can click view all to read all reviews that readers have sent in.
Thanks Sarah. I agree. The projected images of Fred and Ginger only highlighted the lacklustre performance below. Why on earth try and emulate Hollywood's dancing glamour duo in ballet pumps?; I broke the bank to get in there, expecting to see a 21st recreation of the Hollywood icons (as the advertising so artfully suggested). I knew this was the work of a ballet company but thought that their celebration of 'dance' would mean they cast off the ballet shoes for high heels, top hat, tails and taps. I wonder how many others went to the Albert Hall with the same assumption? Top marks to the band and the amazing conductor, they were terrific. Will somebody PLEASE create a real Hollywood musical celebrating the kind of dance once seen with the likes of Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers? The applause at the Albert Hall whenever a hint of a tap shoe emerged (relatively rarely and not that terrific) highlighted the fact that this was what the audience was truly craving but never really got. (Rhapsody in Blue, for all that I've said before, was a tremendous finale though !)
- Joan, Bristol
Add your comment
17°c
