Mirvish Presents: Flashdance, the Musical

Actor Sydney Morton does well at overcoming the deficits in the script and music.

I grew up in the 80s and one of my favorite films was Flashdance.  It captured that time period perfectly—the fashion, the music, and the energy.  I rocked my Flashdance­-inspired off the shoulder sweatshirt and leggings and danced in my basement to Irene Cara’s What a Feeling, wishing my hair would curl as exquisitely as Jennifer Beals’ and that I might some day be as cool.  I was really excited to see Mirvish’s theatrical version of this cult classic.

Mirvish’s Flashdance the Musical has good intentions but ultimately falls flat.  The first problem is that it is overly long; there are too many mediocre songs and not enough dancing.  This is a story about a dancer chasing her dreams but somehow the dance numbers always seemed to be cut short and certainly doesn’t achieve their potential.  There are some fine dancers in this production and I wanted to see more of what they could do.

The music written by Robbie Roth misses the mark and doesn’t capture the 80’s feel, in fact, it is in a completely different style.  The only time the audience perked up during this Flashdance was when they used original music from the film; otherwise the music was simply bland.  The tunes could have been inserted into any number of musicals.  There is nothing original or catchy about them.

There was a certain grittiness that the original Flashdance possessed, that this musical was not able to achieve.  It needs to be rougher around the edges but everything is watered down in this adaptation.  As happens so often in musicals, the acting misses the mark and so many moments are rushed or glossed over.  The budding love between Alex and Nick was not believable, nor was the tortured road that Gloria goes down when she becomes addicted to drugs and ends up dancing at a strip club.  The film certainly wasn’t high art but it was touching, especially the story of an underdog fighting for what she wants.  We rooted for Alex in the film, but because we weren’t invested, we just couldn’t root for her here.

Sydney Morton plays the central character Alex.  She has a solid singing voice and is a skilled dancer though I wish her extensions had been stronger.  The final number—where Alex competes for entry into a prestigious school was pretty faithful to the film but not quite as thrilling. To be fair, Morton does well at overcoming the deficits in the script and music.

Corey Mach is solid as the charismatic Nick.  He has a beautiful purity to his voice and his musical delivery is heartfelt.  Kyra Da Costa’s talent is misplaced in this show.  She is leading lady material playing a supporting role. Her vocals are the strongest in this Flashdance and her Kiki is a stand out.

Klara Zieglerova’s scenic design, Howell Binkley’s lighting design and Peter Nigrini’s projection design mesh well together.  They capture New York and the cool edges of industry.  Flats slickly slide in and out throughout, creating different spaces and street scenes.

The audience seemed to enjoy themselves and it was a pleasant walk down memory lane but in the end, Flashdance the Musical doesn’t outshine the film and it needed to.

Flashdance the Musical is playing at the Ed Mirvish Theatre until June 8^th. For tickets or more info please visit: Mirvish.com