Flashdance Posts Notices at Shaftesbury, 15 JanDate: 22 November 2010
Screen-to-stager Flashdance The Musical has posted early closing notices at the Shaftesbury Theatre, where it will now finish on 15 January 2011. Following extensive regional touring, it opened in the West End on 14 October 2010 (previews from 27 September) and had initially been booking until 26 February 2011.
It’s expected to be making way for a new musical version of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, slated for a spring 2011 West End premiere.
The iconic 1983 film of Flashdance starred Jennifer Beals as Alex Owens, an 18-year-old Pittsburgh welder and exotic dancer who dreams of winning a place at a prestigious dance school and becoming a professional ballet dancer. The score features the songs “Maniac” and “Flashdance… What a Feeling” (which won an Academy Award for Best Song) - it also launched a fashion frenzy for torn sweatshirts.
The stage show premiered at the Theatre Royal Plymouth in July 2008 prior to national touring. In the West End Victoria Hamilton-Barritt reprises her performance as Alex opposite former Busted pop star Matt Willis making his professional theatrical debut as love interest Nick.
Also in the Flashdance are: Sarah Ingram (Hannah), Charlotte Harwood (Gloria), Hannah Levane (Keisha) and Twinnie-Lee Moore (Jazmin) with Brendan Cull, Russell Dixon, Sam Mackay, Ricky Rojas, Andrew Spillett and Robbie White, as well as Ivan Blackstock, Tyman Boatwright, Myles Brown, Joseph Connor, Natalie Edmunds, Nicholas Gilligan, Zoe Green, James Hall, Ben Harrold, Emily Hawgood, Kirby Huges, Sia Kiwa, Lindsay Shaw, Maria Swainson, Amy Thornton and Daniel Uppal.
Flashdance features music by Robbie Roth, lyrics Robert Cary and book by Cary and Tom Hedley. It’s directed by Nikolai Foster, choreographed by musical theatre veteran and former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips and designed by Morgan Large with orchestrations and musical supervision by Phil Edwards. It’s produced by Christopher Malcolm, David Ian, the Baruch-Viertel-Routh-Frankel Group and Transamerica.
In a statement today, the Flashdance producers confirmed the closing date and said they “would like to thank all those involved for their phenomenal hard work on the show”.
- by Terri Paddock
Related Content
 and Richard Griffiths (Al Lewis) in The Sunshine Boys at the Savoy Theatre.jpg)
