MIDNIGHT DANCER
Peacock Theatre
★★★★
“The night is Nikita’s, and it is a joy to see him on stage.”
Nikita Kuzmin’s dancing dream came true tonight as he opened his own dance show Midnight Dancer at the Peacock Theatre, which will be dancing its way round the UK.
Nikita thanks his Strictly Come Dancing family several times during the evening, as without that TV show, this show may not have been possible. As one of Strictly’s professional dancers, he wows millions of viewers with his passionate dance, youthfulness and delightful personality. And it is all of that which his fans will be coming to see, and why they won’t be disappointed.
The story of Midnight Dancer, as much is made that there is one, there isn’t one, but it doesn’t matter: nice guy Nikita meets film star (Andrea Toma) with a jealous agent (Seamus McIntosh). There follows as invite to a ball where the handsome Nikita wins the day, and they all live happily ever after.
The music choices and songs are great with Shakira, Moulin Rouge, sing along hits and LaLa Land with the whole cast keeping the energy flowing, working very hard throughout the show with very little time to draw breath as the dancing keeps coming, as do the quick costume changes in between.
The end of the first half is the ball, with a twenty-four-hour electric clock ticking away on the backcloth. It has a feel of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet, an obvious waltz builds up to a tango sequence, and blackout as Nikita is separated from his love, by the baddy agent.
The second act is more lyrical, with contemporary choreography which suits Nikita well, and indeed the other dancers are more in sync in this style, with bare feet. There is a point in the show where usually he brings a random member of the audience on stage to dance with him. Tonight though, he chose his best friend and fellow Strictly professional dancer Vito who was in the audience saying, “Vito will kill me for this”!
The eight supporting dancers all have very different personalities with different dance styles which is wholly intentional but, when they dance as a group, they need to be totally together with equal and tight spacing between them. The leading lady, Andrea Toma, is an international ballroom and Latin dancer with slick and tight moves, which when dancing with the other girls does show up some of their lack of ballroom technique.
Seamus McIntosh, as the baddy, has an extraordinary and beautiful dance technique with a touch of hip hop style as a bonus. Rebecca Lisewski is the only singer in the show and performs and sings very strongly throughout, even holding the audience’s attention when she sings a solo power ballad, as the cast are off stage doing another quick change.
The costumes (Rachael Ryan) are a mishmash often with trench coats on top, to enable an on-stage reveal of the next costume change. As expected, there is a lot of sparkle especially on Nikita, who ends up in delicious slashed to the navel sequined purple two piece.
Nikita is listed as both creator and choreographer of Midnight Dancer and possibly could have done with a bit more support from creative director and choreographer Tom Jackson Greaves to give a little more variety, not in choreographic styles, but by adding height and dimension with more lifts, jumps and jetés to the routines.
The night is Nikita’s, and it is a joy to see him on stage.
MIDNIGHT DANCER
Peacock Theatre
Reviewed for thespyinthestalls on 21st March 2025
Photography by Danny Kaan
Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:
THE DREAM | ★★★★★ | March 2025
DEEPSTARIA | ★★★★ | February 2025
VOLLMOND | ★★★★★ | February 2025
DIMANCHE | ★★★★ | January 2025
SONGS OF THE WAYFARER | ★★★★ | December 2024
NOBODADDY (TRÍD AN BPOLL GAN BUN) | ★★★★ | November 2024
THE SNOWMAN | ★★★★ | November 2024
EXIT ABOVE | ★★★★ | November 2024
ΑΓΡΙΜΙ (FAUVE) | ★★★ | October 2024
STORIES – THE TAP DANCE SENSATION | ★★★★★ | October 2024
