Ballroom Boys bring the house down in Shrewsbury - review

Strictly Come Dancing 'old boys' Ian Waite and Vincent Simone proved they've still got the moves when they brought their pandemic-delayed dance show for a matinee performance in Shrewsbury on Sunday.

This was an old fashioned feast of entertainment which, despite a small cast and recorded music, brought a delectable dose of glitz and showbiz glamour to liven up a Sunday afternoon... and got a 90 per cent female audience of hardcore Strictly fans in the mood for the TV blockbuster's results show later that evening.

Waite and Simone both nearly got their hands on the Glitterball in early series of Strictly, Waite with celebrity partners Denise Lewis and Zoe Ball, and Simone with Rachel Stevens.

This year Waite's ten year co-host role on Strictly spin-off show It Takes Two came to an end after Zoe Ball left.

Waite and Simone got plenty of humorous mileage from their Strictly connections during the two-hour show with good natured digs at fellow Strictly veteran, and recent Theatre Severn performer, Anton Du Beke.

The production combined showbiz tunes from powerful West End singer Amelia Adams with several showcase dances featuring Simone and Waite, both partnered with superb female dancers, Simone with Ksenia Zsikhotska and Waite with Faye Huddleston.

These were interspersed with some corny gags, light-hearted routines (including a Morecambe and Wise-like skit on Singing In The Rain) plus quite a lot of saucy innuendo.

Simone's imperfect English got some of the biggest laughs, especially his desire that his famous tango routine would get a standing 'ovulation'.

Actually, his Argentine Tango was the highlight and did indeed get that ovulat.. sorry, ovation... though Waite also impressed with a sensitive and romantic routine to the music of Lewis Capaldi's Someone You Love.

If the audience had been given those Strictly score paddles, I feel sure it would have been a full house of tens.