BWW Reviews: AGAINST TIME, New Wimbledon Theatre, June 23 2012

Streetdance and ballet are very different - but eveyone knows this (and if they don't, there's a good joke early on when the boys go to the barre and show that they are no Nureyevs for all their twists and turns in the studio). Against Time (on tour until 8 July) splices the forms together and audiences love it!

The story - such as it is - involves a power-mad professor with a hat that allows him control over time, who uses his powers to attempt to seize control of a dance school populated by streetdance sensations, Flawless and The English National Ballet's delicate ballerinas. The boys and girl come together to resist his evil plans and enjoy a little romance of their own, before a Morgan Freeman-lite voiceover tells us that The Professor has learned the error of his ways, and they all live happily ever after.

Not that a plot that might have been rejected at a Scooby Doo pitching session matters - it's the dancing, the flirting and the humour that delights the house. And there's plenty of all three in Marlon "Swoosh" Wallen and Jenna Lee's show. The boys throw some shapes and the girls define exquisite lines and they all look fantastic in a dizzying array of costumes. They seem to have a good time too, despite the obvious concentration involved in getting it all right.

Even I could tell that the boys' lifts weren't quite right and piped music is never as good as the real thing, but this is not a night to quibble over detail. It's a show that appeals to old and young alike, boys and girls, men and women and, if it's hardly demanding, then who said entertainment had to do you good?    

Gary Naylor is chief reviewer for westend.broadwayworld.com and feels privileged to see so much of London's theatre. He writes about cricket at nestaquin.wordpress.com and also for The Guardian, Spin Cricket and Channel Five and commentates at testmatchsofa.com. His writing on films and other subjects is at tootingtrumpet.wordpress.com. Comments are always welcome.

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