Strictly Ballroom is a book and a play (and then a musical) of a pair of ballroom dancers Scott Hastings (Jonny Labey) and Fran (Zizi Strallen) determined to express themselves with their own dance, even if that means breaking the rules of Ballroom dancing, made by Barry Fife, the Australian Federation head (an excellent Gerard Horan).
I agree if you are thinking it is not a particular inventive story.
But the musical is staged in a fresh way with terrific choreography, and is jocose, joyous and sometimes moving.
It was very funny to see the severe and dictatorial Barry Fife resembling very much Donald Trump.
And Will Young is just perfect. His voice is beautiful and mature, and his version of “Time after time” is romantic and full of emotions.
In the first minutes I struggled to get into the story because the characters (most of all) are a series of caricatures; their personalities are exaggerated and not explored very intimately. But the show is so spectacular, the amount of talent on the stage is impressive and you stop thinking and just enjoy the beauty of it, because at the end of the day this is just entertainment. Very good entertainment.