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Darrien and Hollie get Footloose |
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 10 June 2006 |
Little did they know when they auditioned for the BBC’s Strictly Dance Fever that they would end up dancing in a West End show, but that’s what has happened to Darrien Wright and Hollie Robertson, who won the latest series of the TV dance competition last Saturday.
Darrien and Hollie, both 21, beat off competition from nine other couples in the BBC reality show fronted by Graham Norton, and now get to make their West End debut in the stage adaptation of the 1984 movie that propelled Kevin Bacon to stardom, Footloose – The Musical.
The dance-crazy pair join Cheryl Baker and David Essex on stage at the Novello theatre for a week of performances from 3 July. The month-long professional contract includes three weeks of rehearsals and training during which the toe-tapping twosome, used to the cutting comments of judge Arlene Phillips in Strictly Dance Fever, will be directed by Footloose choreographer and former Laurence Olivier Award winner Karen Bruce.
Footloose – The Musical tells the story of teenager Ren McCormack (Derek Hough), who moves from Chicago to the backwater town of Bomont, taking his love of dance with him. Unfortunately, the local vicar Rev Shaw Moore (Essex) has banned dancing after a fatal accident, and it’s going to take all Ren’s best moves to convince him to change his mind. Baker plays Moore’s wife Vi, and the cast also includes Johnny Shentall and Amy Pemberton.
Graham Norton, who hosted Strictly Dance Fever, is turning his hand to another reality TV show this summer. How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? sees Andrew Lloyd Webber search for a new star to take the lead in his West End show The Sound Of Music, which opens at the London Palladium in December.
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