JADAR

★★★★☆

In his first solo tour, Strictly Come Dancing sensation and international champion Nikita Kuzmin dazzles the starstruck audience with an evening of daring displays and delectable Latin flair, a variety of vibrant and risqué costumes, outrageously tongue-in-cheek humour, and his charismatic showmanship. The only crux was the show’s strange pacing and incohesive structure.

Audience members would be forgiven for taking the title literally, with technical issues postponing the show for what felt like an eternity… Perhaps we will be here until midnight!

The show resumes, the dancers radiating confidence despite the clunkily choreographed introductory solos. This first section drones on for a while (a tad aimlessly) before Nikita makes his exuberating entrance – his fiery fashion, mesmerising movements, and “sexy” suave captivating the audience.

Outside of the opening, Nikita and Tom Jackson Greaves’ choreography is a jaw-dropping spectacle. If you’re looking for shiny, tassled cowboys dancing with country flair, a new interpretation of Moulin Rouge!, or a disco party, Nikita has you covered!

Surprisingly, my favourite dance abandoned the bells and whistles (or in this case, the glitter), with an intoxicating ballroom number flavoured with gorgeous Latin ornamentation; effortlessly showcasing Nikita’s famous finesse in these categories. The supple kicks, gently stretching arms and elegant lifts and spins paired ravishingly with the flowing dress and gentle lighting.

Costumer Rachael Ryan and Associate Ella Barraclough’s design shine in these moments, with a variety of vivid colours, glittering burlesque jumpsuits, noire pantsuits, and a handful of stunning risqué pieces.

Andrew Exeter’s set and lighting design are stellar with an intimate cinema exterior evocative of the art deco or detective noir eras, pulsing multicolour lights. The dramatically pulsing lights of the cinema and Midnight Dancer lit in neon. Its small yet jam packed with action and refreshingly adapting to each number.

In addition, while James Crichton’s sound design and Ian Masterson’s music production lead to one of the funkiest Strictly show playlists to date, its also engulfed by this creative indecision. We shift between disco and pop hits, ABBA, Tina Turner, Ed Sheeran, Justin Timberlake and Shakira with ease, before dipping into movie soundtracks; everything from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to La La Land.

Despite the entertaining variety, the creative direction feels a tad incoherent, costumes and music flittering between genres, eras and styles but restricted within one equally jumpy narrative.

Midnight Dancer tenuously follows ‘the hero’ (Nikita) as he falls in love with the feisty ‘actress’ (Andreea Toma) but is torn away by the cruel ‘agent’, slickly played by Alex Moore. They are joined by singer Rebecca Lisewski, and a slew of talented dancers, jazzing up the stage with their lively movements and fun personalities.

The supporting cast consists of Sophie Baker, Lowri Hamilton, Samuel Lake, Charlotte Lee, Zara Liu, Seamus McIntosh, and Alex Moore (who is not credited); Dance Captain Thomas Charles and Daniel Rae were both off.

Mixed in are movie and musical dance numbers loosely connected to the story, and an unexplained steamy homoerotic standoff between the hero and agent. Sadly, lots of this tale’s meaning is lost in translation. The first time I actually understood what was happening was during the Act 2 when audiences were finally told what each character was, and even then, it was difficult to follow.

The already disjunct and confusing narrative is practically abandoned during the last segment but was already consistently interrupted by comedic but unrelated gags and two long yet charmingly delivered, Northern inflected heart-to-hearts from Nikita.

Some of these comedy routines ended up being highlights in the show but felt strangely amiss from the narrative. The parodic movie trailers sequence was particularly amusing as Nikita took on the roles of Titanic’s Jack clambering on a human “door” to safety, reversed the roles in the Dirty Dancing lift, and had a campy romp as Barbie’s Ken. Another had an audience member dragged on stage in a glittery cape, initially hesitant before hilariously embracing the chaos and enthusiastically dancing along. However, these scenes completely stalled all narrative progress, making me question why the story was necessary at all?

Indeed, while some Strictly shows have attempted to tell longer stories, the most entertaining shows, i.e. Anton Du Beke’s Night at the Musicals or Giovanni’s Let Me Entertain You, tend to have broader themes and aesthetics, allowing for more experimentation while sticking to a comprehensible overarching premise. Perhaps Midnight Dancer would benefit from a similarly expansive theme connecting the numbers to movies and removing the fairly redundant sub-plot in favour of the splendour and variation that Nikita’s show clearly thrives on.

Conversely, Karen and Gorka go in hard with their themes and narratives, never breaking away from them, ensuring consistency.

Midnight Dancer is a creative romp, a little rough around the edges but bursting with fascinating choreography, vibrant lighting and doused in that fab-u-lous Strictly pizazz. Nikita and his team are the embodiment of showmanship, glossing over most of the show’s cracks with their talent and playfulness.

Nikita Kuzmin: Midnight Dancer tours the UK and Ireland until May 24th.