25 years together!! That’s longer than a lot of relationships!
So what keeps one of Strictly’s golden couple’s together, and audiences returning year after year to Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall?
For them, as Erin put it ‘Marry somebody else’, for us the audience, I guess it’s a kind of a ‘safe’ show, a little bit like going to see your favourite band and they do all the classics. It’s a formula not to be messed with, and why would you? I worked out that I’ve been at least seven times, sometimes reviewing, sometimes not, and in a sense you could almost copy and paste the review, with a tweak here and there – but I won’t.
So what was different this time? Well, we’re all a little older and wiser and Anton had his reading glasses bought out on a nice sparkly tray. They now have their name in lights above the stage. They have a new female singer, Elizabeth Futter, but the biggy of course is that Anton is now a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, and rightly so. After appearing as a dancer since the beginning in 2004, he’s more than paid his dues.
A big part of the show previous years had been the jokes at Anton’s expense over some of the celebs he’s been paired with. Not to worry, because now we have tales from the judging panel, as well as of course past series. Anne Widecombe makes for good stories. No chuck and slide this year though for the entertainer who has become as famous for just being Anton as he is for his dancing.
To be fair, over the years, it has almost become the Anton show, but again, Anton has proved that he is the all round entertainer, and no doubt about it has a future in presenting when he hangs up his dancing shoes for good. He is Mr Charisma, and I could listen to him tell his stories all day, but this is a dancing show, so let’s talk about that. The performance begins with an overture from the orchestra moving on to Get This Party Started. Good start to build the energy in the room. Our stars of the show are announced their first dance to Dancing in the Street. Despite technically being old enough to be the parents of their team of six backup dancers, the duo have still got it. The dancers add a more fast paced edge in contrast to the graceful moves of Anton & Erin who otherwise show little sign of slowing down. Erin, who left Strictly back in ’2012 maintains an air of elegance, sophistication and style, which is sometimes missing from the hit show nowadays.
The IT then is the chemistry and rapport between the duo which is perfect. Erin plays long suffering straight man to Anton’s gags, and when she can get a word in, they bounce off each other. Cheeky banter, beautiful choreography and tales of Strictly. What’s not to love?
Well If I REALLY had to find something to criticise, I’d say that the theme for this year’s tour isn’t the strongest. Billed as ‘Showtime – a glittering celebration that pays tribute to some of the world’s greatest icons’ some of the song choices, for me, were a bit hit and miss. A’ show version of The Spice Girls ‘Wannabe’, and Oasis’s Wonderwall for example felt a bit Vic Reeves club singer. Yes I’m old enough to remember that, but then again I would say the majority of the audience were older. I much prefer the Hollywood style theme they do so well. (I’ll make an allowance for Beyonce’s All The Single Ladies however) The production also seemed to lean rather too heavily on the vocals of new girl Elizabeth. Strong voice, but which at times didn’t seem quite suited to the vibe of the show.
Overall however the show still sits perfectly in it’s chilled Sunday afternoon Nottingham slot, as it has done for many of the years I can remember. Beautiful dresses, classy choreography, a 23 piece orchestra, the soulful sounds of Lance Ellington.
It’s a 10 from me. Same time next year? Absolutely.
By Tanya Louise
