JADAR

★★★☆☆

In their second UK tour, tenuously titled Behind the Magic, Strictly Come Dancing stars Nadiya Bychkova and Kai Widdrington showcase a range of dance styles, glitzy show-stopping costumes, and display their love of music and entertainment with a rather jumpy show-structure.

In my review of their debut tour, Once Upon A Time, I was amazed by their attention to detail… The costumes were FAB-U-LOUS, and the dance numbers (while not flowing quite as elegantly as Gorka and Karen’s or Giovanni’s tours) flowed thematically together, weaving a narrative between Cinderella-esque dance numbers and their own personal dreams and hardships along the way. Their first tour succeeded in creating an intimate, loving, and comedic experience, which I dubbed a night of “family fun, flamboyance, sass, sequins, and spectacles” (The Mancunion). However, their current tour fails to create the same “magic”, despite its new theme. 

This time, the show follows Nadiya and Kai as they bring the audience on a jarring journey across the segments of the entertainment industry, giving us a taste of the golden age of Hollywood, showing us the impact of runway fashion and famous choreographers or music-makers, and slotting in random segments, like a TV special and some lush ballroom dances. While the night was jam-packed full of interesting concepts, music and costumes, it felt a little sloppily collaged in the grand scheme of things.

Starting with a punchy introduction to the dancers, before the special entrances of Nadiya and Kai, arriving separately through a gap between the screens and performing with flair (and might I add, a gorgeous flowy red dress). While their entrance was stylish, it may have been more effective to have used the ‘backstage’ dressing-room doors for their initial entrance to match the star-studded energy of the first number, rather than leaving these props for the end of the show.

From the get-go, this first moment highlights one of the main gripes I heard buzzing around the audience… it felt more like the performance showcased the backing dancers over the titular stars. Granted, this may have been impacted by Nadiya’s injury, as she told the audience of her struggles over the last few weeks, having broken her toe. “The toe must go on,” she quips in the show’s best pun of the night. While I was wowed by her performance despite such a significant injury, I still felt that the show could have benefitted from seeing more of the couple dancing together and recreating the stunning magic that their last tour evoked. 

After showing us a compilation of the musicals and dancing styles of the golden era of Hollywood, with a few smooth, sexy, and goofy musical numbers, and a gorgeous variety of costumes, including a green flapper dress, the show reaches its weirdest and most pretentious segment… the “Nadiya and Kai TV Special” dance competition.

While this bit could have given a cute insight into all of the work that choreographers like themselves put into Strictly dances, it instead promoted the pair as the host and “stage manager”, loitering idly with Nadiya in an “Oscars” dress as their dancers “compete” with samba, jive and cha cha numbers, in front of three randomly selected audience members acting as judges. This segment felt not only rather cringy and self-aggrandising but also pulled the fast-paced choreography to a halt as we watched short clips of the couples preparing before their dances, had the exaggerative acting often seen in Strictly making a return, heard poorly scripted jokes about the real Strictly judges not attending, and ultimately watched as the main couple took the backseat to watch events unfold.

While their previous tour tipped into this “special” show concept with their own Blackpool-themed championship, it felt more authentic and fluid than this iteration. Many of the first tour’s segments make a return in some form or another, with varying degrees of success, and some sense of repetition and recycling rather than taking a new and bold direction.

In fact, the next two segments were also featured (albeit differently and with completely separate routines) in their original debut. Once Upon A Time had them “channelling the glamorousness of Marilyn Monroe or the swinging charisma of Elvis Presley and Bruno Mars” while “accentuated by costume designs” and a four panel screen highlighting the beat, glamourous settings and patterns, or be “used in sync with or interacting with dancers” (The Mancunion).

While this was swapped out for two panels this time, the screens were again used in the same way as homages to great artists and their influences were given, again including Bruno Mars, along with the likes of Prince, Beyoncé, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner and so on, before a similar segment focusing on choreographers like Fred Astaire and Michael Jackson was given.

While this was one of the best segments of the night, it did feel awfully familiar to some of the previous show’s gimmicks and focuses, yet I must admit that I loved the idea that dancers would don the famous hats of the choreographers as they performed with clear influences from each artist, especially with the swagger, fashion mimicry and intricate footwork of the MJ routines. 

After a short interval, the fashion continues with an unexplained move into the world of catwalks, but a rather entertaining array of costumes nonetheless, although I would say that the glamour of the fashion took away considerably from the focus on the dancing in these moments, despite the routines continuing as songs were slapped together and each new costume debuted.

One particularly beautiful piece in this section was Nadiya’s dress, which had long ribbons held by the dancers as she elegantly posed for the crowd. Another included Kai’s fur coat look, which a clunky and clearly scripted moment (as with most of the talking between segments) forced Nadiya to describe Kai as a “cute polarbear”.

Most of the cringy jokes did not land and felt very awkward, especially when combined with long pauses, such a jarring halt to the show’s fast-paced dance routines, and a handful of awkward moments where vague references were made about dreams, which led to a tearful breakdown from Nadiya before one of the final songs. Perhaps there is something in particular that she was referencing, but when you leave the audience in the dark, it creates a certain disconnect to these emotions that leaves you feeling rather perplexed as a viewer. 

Costumes in other segments were also stunning and perfectly reflected the era, genre, influences and more… whether it be flowing ballgowns, colourful jumpsuits, glittering dresses, a cute short leather dress and belt number, a bralette and jacket combo, or sequins and tassels galore. 

Moving on from this, there was also a very elegant ballroom segment, followed up by a slightly rushed “Music Makers” bit with the live singer Tomas Wolstenholme, who despite being prevalent in the previous tour and having a great versatile voice for both the softer and rocky numbers, felt a little under utilised this time around, making short appearances, disappearing for awhile and then returning again way later in the show.

The segment concluded with the aforementioned tearful speech before Queen’s ‘The Show Must Go On’, which ironically, despite being right before the show’s end, may have been my favourite number. This piece returned to a simple formula… a true Nadiya and Kai duet that utilised a vanity set piece as the pair stared through the mirror at each other and performed with passionate outbursts, gorgeous footwork, and epic twirls and lifts.

If more of the show had these breathtaking moments, this whirlwind of emotion, facilitated by interesting set-pieces and moments for the couple to showcase their abilities together more emotively, then the show would have been ten times more entertaining. This part was so intimate, and their performances were vivid, pure and vulnerable!

The typical yet fun Strictly show formula returns in the final section, with an exciting dance floor encore as the audience got on their feet and clapped along as the dancers and Tomas performed their final few songs.

Despite earning a great round of applause, the show ultimately felt like something was missing. I’m not sure whether it was some of the dance routines feeling a little flat, despite a few outstanding and challenging dance moments, parts feeling almost recycled from their previous show, or the poor flow between sections that ultimately felt tenuously linked by a concept of entertainers, which we never got to see the backstage or behind-the0scenes magic of, despite the show’s premise.

It instead became a cluster of concepts rolled into rough surface-level sections with awkward transitions as sometimes songs felt hastily put together without a proper transition. Other times, transitions were obvious as our hosts droned on with cringy speeches about the next sections, despite the couple having great personalities.

Most shows usually cover these transitions with smaller talking segments, unscripted playfulness with the audience, or using backing dancers to take attention away as the stars prepare for the next number, yet for the majority of the show it felt like we were watching these talented dancers more than the stars we came to see.

Despite an interesting concept, the show never really delivers on its theme and relies on its glitz and glam to pull the audience through a rather jarring stop-and-start structure. While the costumes were spectacular, and most dance numbers were interesting, it lacked a certain sprinkling of that Strictly magic, especially when laden with so many thematic, script and structural flaws.

While every dancer (including Nadiya and Kai) had their standout moments, I did often wonder why it relied so heavily on the other dancers rather than the starring couple.

Ultimately, the show often felt like it tried to cram in too many ideas and struggled to find its footing despite a clearly talented cast of creatives and performers alike. Alterations to the structure, shortened talking segments or cleaner transitions, and maybe a closer look into the way they link the themes to the concept of the backstage magic would drastically improve the disjunct feel.

But if you are looking for a night of glamorous Strictly dancing then the show will have buckets of that feel-good energy you are looking for.

Nadiya & Kai tour the UK with Behind the Magic until June 30.

Photo: Terry Blackburn