We are ten minutes in to the Strictly Ballroom musical at The Lowry and the plug is pulled. Fans of the cult Baz Luhrmann movie will know that a similar thing happens at the finale of dancefloor romance at the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix - although we weren't exactly expecting it to occur for real when we'd barely nestled into our seats in Salford.
The cast walk silently from the stage, and the audience are left in darkness, then full light, then lights up and down, as producers work behind the scenes to seemingly tackle gremlins in the system. After a 14 minute stoppage we are back into the action - showing dazzling and headstrong young dancer Scott Hastings aiming to do things HIS way, to the dismay of his dance teacher mum Shirley and her dance partner Les.
The technical problems make it a strange start to a production that you kind of expect to come at you full razzle dazzle. But then it never quite kicks into fifth gear on opening night at The Lowry for me.
