Rip it Up at the London Palladium and touring until 22 October.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
Rip it Up brought all the glitz and cheese of Strictly Come Dancing to the London Palladium. It showcased the talents of former winners of the Glitterball trophy, Louis Smith and Jay McGuiness, alongside previous Strictly professional Natalie Lowe and a team of six professional dancers.
The show consisted of 48 dances (all choreographed by Lowe) to 1950s tunes blasted out by Leo Green and his band.
Split into numerous sections, these numbers displayed a variety of dance styles as well as music from the chosen era.
The sections were separated by an amusing collection of adverts from that period, allowing the dancers to catch their breath and change into another outfit from the polka dot and baseball-boot-filled wardrobe.
Rip it Up opened with a high-energy jive mega-mix, performed by the whole cast, and the tempo of the dances seemed to increase with each song.
Smith and McGuiness did well to keep up with this electric pace but were both visibly tiring towards the end.
The rest of the show brought us collections of songs from iconic artists such as Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley, and a chance for the celebrities to incorporate the skills for which they have become famous.
Smith added impressive leaps and flips to many dances, and even though he seemed to be behind the beat in most of the quicker group numbers, his duets were well performed.
McGuiness’ singing of ‘Beyond the Sea’ left a little to be desired, but his ballroom dance to ‘Unforgettable’ had audience members cheering.
The second half of the show seemed to drag. The middle was padded out with interviews with the three stars: Lowe, Smith and McGuiness giving the audience the same backstage exclusives that they could expect from the TV show.
At first, I assumed this section was there to fill the time, but it was followed by the teaching of a dance and a finale with an inordinate number of reprises, so it turned out that they weren’t vital after all.
Leo Green acted as our host for the evening, firing cheesy jokes at the audience and playing saxophone in the impressive six-piece ensemble.
It was nice to see the band literally take centre-stage, with one of the singers strutting her stuff with the professional dancers in the Fosse-inspired choreography to ‘Fever/I Just Want to Make Love to You’.
The highlights of the show were when Lowe and her team of six professionals took to the stage, and I personally would have preferred a production that was purely based around them.
However, Rip it Up is sure to be enjoyed by any Strictly Come Dancing fan, and certainly catered to this demographic.
Lani Calvert
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