Review: Disco Dancer ★★★★★
Disco Dancer | Sadler’s Wells | £24-93
Disco Dancer is an unmissable Bollywood pop party – with Shazia Mirza and the cast delivering a rainbow riot of colour, choreography and comedy gold!
Bollywood’s biggest live show lands in London! The rags to riches story of Disco Dancer focuses on Jimmy, a poor Goan street dancer destined for greatness. Cue dodgy villains including dance rival Sam Oberoi, his sister Kim (a beautiful love interest for Jimmy), a Soviet mobster with a passion for murder, and enough glitz to detach your eyeballs.
Shazia Mirza is the glitter-glue that holds the show together, with much-needed progressive additions to the kitsch spectacle. Her first monologue, introducing the show, is a piece of performance magic as she glides rhythmically yet almost imperceptibly across the whole width of the giant stage. To achieve this graceful shimmy whilst delivering laughs galore is pure Bollywood class. It’s not all just jokes though – Mirza makes sure to land some key punches in the fight for women’s rights, and has to deal with some disruptive audience interventions (mostly from men) whilst doing so. She deserves a medal!
Jimmy – played by Arjun Tanwar – is the ultimate Bollywood sex symbol. His thrusting pelvis, gyrating hips and seductive smile send the audience into delirium. Standout performances include the pop princess power of Kim (Tia Kar), Mr Brown (Gavin Methalaka | CHubBy), Jimmy’s good-guy manager, and the crowd-rouser announcer (Ana Ilmi).
There are also incredible displays of choreography and vocal gymnastics throughout – it’s mind boggling to think just how much effort and control is required to sing this well whilst moving so much!
Far from fluff, Disco Dancer is pure ‘entertainment, entertainment, entertainment’ – and is a shot of adrenaline and pure excitement in these drab grey UK days.
I am Joint Editor at To Do List. I like free, cheap & offbeat London, especially: cabaret, art, theatre, pop-ups, eating out, quirky films, museums, day trips, social enterprise & much more.
