The surprise 1980s film hit about a welder and wannabee dancer at a Pittsburgh steel mill is given a comic overhaul in this fun musical reworking.
Alongside an engaging ensemble cast that lifts the sub plots into the limelight, this version of the tale of factory worker Alex Owens and her dreams of dance makes some changes from the celluloid version, and lightens the original musical adaptation.
We keep Alex’s relationship with Nick Hurley but he’s demoted from mill owner to heir, and given some emotional wrangling of his own. He also, thankfully, becomes slightly less stalkerish.
Alex’s night job at the club is a little sanitised too, with some of her fellow dancers amalgamated, and there’s a big additional chunk of humour from aspiring comic Jimmy, and the pairing of Alex’s ‘guardian angel’ Hannah with nurse Louise.
The bits you may remember from the film are still there though – including Alex’s water-splash stage dance, Maniac, Gloria, and the famous final audition to What A Feeling.
The show is playing across through the week at Norwich Theatre Playhouse, including an extra night added due to sales, with the whole run sold out. There were some first night tech hitches with missed microphone cues and sound balance, but it was still pretty polished for the debut of an amateur production with very limited full theatre rehearsal time
Sophie Chapman and Zac Sowter were nicely matched as Alex and Nick, with complementary voices for their frequently overlapping ballads. They also played nicely with their stage mates, particularly Sowter in a powerful rendition of Justice.
As Gloria Leanna Lucas showed great characterisation, convincingly switching from ditzy dreamer to drug-addled downbeat, with the two reprises of her eponymous song creepily but effectively delivered and choreographed. Boyfriend Jimmy (Eddie Bays) was nicely geeky, with matching tender vocals.
Club dancers Kiki and Tess are brought to life by Kimberley Mason and Georgia Finch respectively, with two fun set piece dances, both delivering personally and leading the chorus to fill the stage.
There is plenty of light relief in the bickering cameos of Rowena Croston-Clegg as Hannah and Rachael Osborn as her nurse Louise, plus great support from Craig Mayne as unpleasant rival club owner C.C and Kathryn White as the ironically buttoned-down dance school supremo Ms Wilde.
The live band keep everything tight in their on-stage cage, which forms the back of the industrial set and provides a balcony for some visual variation.
This isn’t the deepest of shows, but it is a fun piece of slightly tidied up 80s nostalgia from an extremely promising cast and crew.
- Flashdance by Threshold Theatre Company is at Norwich Theatre Playhouse until Sunday 7 June 2026, tickets £24, returns only.