Strictly Come Dancing is a huge TV hit, and a stage spin-off sounds like a good idea: the performers and the dance styles have a high recognition factor, and a live show can maintain brand presence when the show itself is off air. Earlier in the year we had Strictly Come Dancing Live!, closely based on the TV format, complete with voting and judges. Now we have Cheek to Cheek, starring Anton du Beke and Erin Boag. With its medley of songs (ratpack standards sung by Richard Shelton), orchestral numbers (played by the London Concert Orchestra) and dance set-pieces, this is more like a straightforward variety show – though the lead couple’s Bruce-and-Tess style banter ensures that we never forget the source.
Anton and Erin are very much ballroom types: they look smooth in a foxtrot and dapper in a quickstep, but their tangos really strain for effect. Wisely, most of the Latin is left to a second couple, former world salsa champions Jaclyn Spencer and Chris Marques, who, in contrast to tall, angular Anton and Erin, are small and cuddly. They can do a mean salsa, with plenty of whiplash, but they too strain to carry off the nuances of the tango or rumba. The four backing couples, meanwhile, are underused. Too often they pass through like a flight of exotic birds, as if simply covering a costume change, when some solid ensemble work would have provided much-needed choreographic backbone.
Ultimately, Cheek to Cheek falls between the stools of stage and screen. Without the elements of competition and achievement, it lacks the essential drama of Strictly; it also lacks the stars (who were never the dancers). On the other hand, ballroom dancing on its own doesn’t carry much theatrical charge: it needs more context, characterisation and choreography than lots of steps, toothy grimaces and exhibitionist frocks.