It shouldn’t have been like this, but despite Arlene Phillips’ tremendous choreography and Matt Willis and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt as stars, Flashdance The Musical could not make the passion happen.

The production at the Shaftesbury Theatre will close on the 15th January after a 4 month run. The show was originally booking until the 28th February 2011, so it’s only closing 6 weeks early, but when you mount a West End musical you hope it’s going to run for years rather than a number of months.

Some will say that the Shaftesbury curse has struck yet again….The Shaftesbury Theatre is not known for providing show longevity, although Hairspray managed to have a fairly good run. With the phenomenal success of Dirty Dancing at The Aldwych Theatre, I thought that Flashdance would be a sure bet; 80’s nostalgia is so big at the moment.

Flashdance The Musical got fairly good reviews from the popular press so it’s certainly not a disaster on stage, and it contains many good songs from the iconic film. At least there’s still time to buy a ticket before Flashdance rides off into the sunset….you may find that it’s harmless good fun, which lends itself well to the festive season!

Flashdance is booking until the 15th January at the Shaftesbury Theatre. You can save up to 48% on midweek performances when you buy tickets on www.discounttheatre.com.

What do you think? Is the Shaftesbury Theatre cursed?