Kevin Clifton announces his first role since leaving Strictly Come Dancing

CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT STRICTLY COME DANCING‘S KEVIN CLIFTON TO STAR AS SCOTT HASTINGS IN 2020/2021

Former Strictly Come Dancing champion Kevin Clifton is to star in the 2020/2021 UK and Ireland tour of Baz Luhrmann’s smash hit Strictly Ballroom The Musical, playing the lead role of Scott Hastings. After seven glorious years on Strictly Come Dancing, last week Kevin announced his departure from the series and now he makes a full-time move into the world of musical theatre in a role that couldn’t be more perfectly suited.

Kevin Clifton said: “I’m beyond excited to be finally fulfilling a lifelong ambition to play Scott

Hastings in Strictly Ballroom The Musical. When I was 10 years old I first watched the movie

that would become my favourite film of all time. This is my dream role. Plus I get to work

with Craig Revel Horwood again! I really can’t wait to don the golden jacket and waltz all over the UK from September this year in what’s set to be an incredible show!”

The musical is based on the award-winning global film phenomenon, ‘Strictly Ballroom’, which inspired the world to dance. Directed by Craig Revel Horwood, this all-singing, all-dancing and all-glittering show is set to dazzle audiences once more with the new 2020/21 tour. Kicking off in Nottingham on 26 September, the musical will then waltz around the UK and Ireland before culminating in Reading in June 2021. Tickets are on sale now from

strictlyballroomtour.co.uk

Kevin joined Strictly Come Dancing in 2013, performing in the final five times and was

crowned Strictly Champion in 2018. He’s a world-class professional dancer, former Youth

World Number One and four-time British Latin Champion and has won international open

titles all over the world. After making his West End musical theatre debut in 2010 in Dirty

Dancing, Kevin has starred in The Wedding Singer as Robbie Hart (Wembley Troubadour Park Theatre) as well as starring in the West End production of Rock of Ages as Stacie Jaxx.

Strictly Ballroom The Musical tells the beguiling story of Scott Hastings, a talented, arrogant

and rebellious young ballroom dancer. When Scott’s radical dance moves see him fall out of

favour with the Australian Federation, he finds himself dancing with Fran, a beginner with no

moves at all. Inspired by one another, this unlikely pair gather the courage to defy both

convention and their families – and discover that, to be winners, the steps don’t need to be

strictly ballroom.

Featuring a show-stopping book by Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, and bringing together a sublime cast of over 20 world-class performers, Strictly Ballroom brings to life iconic songs, including Love is in the Air, Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps and Time After Time with dynamic and joyous verve. This tour will also feature some amazing new songs by internationally acclaimed artists including Sia, David Foster and Eddie Perfect. The show’s scintillating singing, dazzling dancing and eye-popping costumes will combine together to bring audiences a story of heart, comedy and drama, and promises to be an unforgettable night under the glitter ball.

This uplifting and courageous musical originated as a stage play that Baz Luhrmann devised with a group of classmates at Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1984. Eight years later he made his screen directorial debut with ‘Strictly Ballroom’, the first instalment in Luhrmann’s acclaimed Red Curtain Trilogy. The vibrant film enjoyed staggering success, winning three awards at the 1993 BAFTA awards and a 1994 Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture, going on to become one of the most successful Australian films of all time, earning more than $80 million at the box office. In April 2014 Strictly Ballroom The Musical had its world premiere at the Sydney Lyric Theatre.

Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom The Musical is a fabulous, feel-good evening full of sequins, singing and salsa. This unmissable kaleidoscope of glitz and glamour is a tonic for the soul and will send your heart soaring and toes tapping long after you leave the theatre!

36 venues have already been announced across the U.K and Ireland, included in those are dates in Derry and Dublin though more dates are to be announced, fingers crossed it comes to Belfast otherwise a wee bus/train trip is in order

Full dates/venue info available via www.strictlyballroomtour.co.uk