Strictly the best... Brendan steps out in style
BRENDAN Cole became a household name as one of the most popular professional dancers on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. The New Zealander won the first ever glitterball trophy partnering newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky.
While those days may be behind him (he was axed by BBC bosses in 2018 after 15 years on the show), this latest light entertainment touring dance spectacular, directed, produced, and choreographed by the 43-year-old, shows that he has lost none of his sparkle on the dance floor.
Cole says this run of Show Man will be his last big band tour after ten years and five theatre productions as he takes time out to concentrate on his family – and in the process leave the way clear for the plethora of Strictly spin-offs. Groans from the audience suggest he’ll be missed.
Featuring seven, hand-picked championship dancers (make that six in Dunfermline, with one of the dancers rushed to hospital with suspected appendicitis); a fine live band; polished vocals from singers, Bublé manqué Ian Mackenzie and Jenna Lee James, and even a youth choir, Show Man, may be a dance show at heart. But there’s an injection of theatrical oomph to go along with the nifty footwork and bare chests and flashes of leg from the dancers.
The set design, however, suggests the budget went on the glittering costumes and light show – and Cole isn’t quite the singer he imagines himself to be.
A segment where he picks up a guitar to join Mackenzie and Lee James in country tune, Tennessee Whiskey, is something of a self-indulgent interlude.
Opening with (what else) a few up tempo numbers from hit musical The Greatest Showman, with Cole dressed in red ringmaster attire, quickly followed by an impressive waltz set to Send In The Clowns – one of the show’s highlights – the evening flies by, with a few numbers from previous shows revisited alongside new additions such as an emotive rumba performed by Cole and leading lady Crystal Main to Shallow from A Star Is Born.
With Cole keen to set the narrative scene for each vignette that go towards making up the bitty whole, the end result is a crowd-pleasing, variety, rock and pop concert hybrid that works surprisingly well. It’s free of the stuffiness you might associate with a ballroom dance-infused show but still manages to showcase a diverse range of dance styles that should satisfy dance lovers.
And even if you don’t know your American Smooth from a latte, it’s hard to resist being seduced by the glitz and glamour served up on stage for the best part of two hours. Not to mention the easy going, schmaltzy charm, provided by Cole throughout proceedings.
Near the show’s close he delights the audience by moving among them providing kisses and birthday wishes. Show Man may have a whiff of end of the pier. But it’s high end of the pier. The quality of the dancing is always engaging and eye catching, and one thing the show definitely doesn’t lack is energy. I’m not sure how Strictly judges Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood would score it, but it got a thumbs up from Dunfermline.