Alex on Flashdance: ‘what a feeling!’

More than 30 years after the movie’s premiere, Flashdance is now live on stage at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto.

Tom Hedley wrote the original screenplay, and he serves as executive producer of the stage incarnation. He coined the word ‘flashdance’.

“I wanted a word that created a complete aesthetic, a total style, because to me flashdance was that moment that, in a flash, when music, dance and fashion came together to create an image, and that was very much what was in my mind and I felt that if I could make that concrete somehow it would communicate that it was about a certain kind of style.”

There’s dazzle and heart in young Alex’s story. Sydney Morton gives a killer performance which pretty well carries the show. She plays a welder by day and bar dancer at night, but dreaming of a career in serious dance.

Hedley explains the inspiration for this character originated in Steeltown. “I did a lot of my early research at Stelco in Hamilton, and so I knew blue collar workers. And there was something very interesting about the girls who worked at Stelco and who were competent at men’s jobs. In a way, they had to be better than they guys.”

“It was a great character so I wanted to incorporate all that.”

This is not just a movie knock-off. It stands on its own. but in order to transfer the film to the stage, new songs had to be written by composer/lyricist Robbie Roth.

“We used five of the iconic songs from the film, and then my job was to write the other 15 or so numbers used to help tell the story. To do that job effectively I knew that I had to use the material that pre-existed as well as I could.”

Flashdance is a heart-on-your-sleeve fantasy. Within the visual splendor, toes are tappin’, emotions are stirred. The signature song sums it up: what a feeling!

Flashdance: The Musical is onstage at Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theatre through June 8th.