On tour with A Christmas to Remember, dancers Aljaž and Janette prove a triple threat

Various composers, Aljaž and Janette – A Christmas to Remember: Aljaž Škorjanec and Janette Manrara (co-creators and choreography) and Company (Janine Johnson, Adrian Hansel [featured singers], Robbie Kmetoni, Faye Huddleston [lead partners], Aimee Hipson, Alex Sturman, Kiera Brunton, Nick Stuart [ensemble]), Gareth Walker (director and choreographer), Matt Howes (music supervisor). Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea, 3.12.2022. (JPr)

Janette Manrara and Aljaž Škorjanec © Fiona Whyte for The TCB Group

Slovenian dancer Aljaž Škorjanec and Cuban-American Janette Manrara are rightly immensely popular even though they no longer appear on Strictly Come Dancing where they first gained wider public attention and married during their time on the show. It is four years now since I last saw them live in their Fred Astaire tribute, Remembering Fred, at the London Palladium which I described as an ’absolute joy’, as is their 2022 A Christmas to Remember now touring to 13 venues until mid-December (for information click here).

The idea behind the show is to take us through an advent calendar-style countdown of the twelve days before Christmas. Aljaž and Janette have an easy chemistry on stage – not a given even if they are married – and they look at what Christmas means for them, especially the alternating years they spend in Slovenia (‘a white winter wonderland’) and Miami (‘Santa Claus in flipflops and sunglasses’). Plus, there is a lot of self-deprecating humour beginning with the toll the opening medley – from ‘Holidays are Coming’ to a rampant jive to ‘Oh, What a Night’ – takes on a now heavily perspiring Aljaž which he blames on not doing Strictly anymore. Of course, he proves during the two-hour show just how incredibly fit he is, indeed both him, Janette and their six backup dancers are, since it is a high-energy, fast-moving (in more senses than one) show. Janette’s height doesn’t fail to get a mention of course, so when Aljaž suggests a Christmas tree is not as tall as he remembered it when he was young, Janette comments how it still looks big to her!

The set is a simple one: central steps rise to a narrow platform in front of three LED screens, leaving the stage bare except for some Christmas trees. Ryan Howard’s ever-changing images which we see throughout the performance are very sophisticated in giving the dancing all the festive atmosphere needed from an early snow globe to hints of a snowy Slovenia, a sunny Miami, and later on, as a backdrop to the classic Christmas song ‘Oh Christmas Tree’ when we magically see Santa crossing the moon (ET-like) and a gold star land on top of a fir tree. There are several changes of glitzy or festive costumes and during A Christmas to Remember you will hear most of the songs which are played endlessly elsewhere at this time of year. They are fabulously sung – if a touch too loudly amplified – individually or together by the soulful Janine Johnson and Adrian Hansel. At times their voices – which blended together so very well on many occasions (including a splendid ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’) – tended to overwhelm the frequently-employed backing tracks at times.

Janette Manrara’s ‘Santa Baby’ © Fiona Whyte for The TCB Group

Triple threat is becoming an overused term these days but can be applied to Aljaž and Janette because not only are they engaging and funny, but they also dance and sing too. There were so many highlights in the show, though – for me – some of the best moments were when Aljaž and Janette sang ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’, Aljaž (in his red smoking jacket) crooning ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ and Janette (in an eye-catching Santa minidress) having great fun singing ‘Santa Baby’. Also, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without The Nutcracker and it gets a look in after the interval beginning with Aljaž and Janette passing through the audience.

We hear from Aljaž how ‘There’s one thing my Janette likes more than Christmas and me, it starts with a D and ends with a Y’. Her thoughts of watching Frozen at Christmas leads us into an extended Disney sequence beginning with the evocative ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’ even though Aljaž remarks how Frozen is not really a Christmas movie to which Janette replies, ‘I needed to get Disney in the show somehow!’

Finally, its Christmas day and the hope from them both is – as Janette tells us – that they have helped ‘create some beautiful new Christmas memories for yourselves’. Referring to their joy of performing Aljaž says (a scripted or unscripted?) ‘We take these moments for granted’ which he quickly corrected after bringing the house down laughing.

Throughout the show there had been some brilliant dancing, not just from Aljaž and Janette, but a very, very talented ensemble including the lead dancers accompanying Aljaž and Janette when not dancing together, Faye Huddleston and Robbie Kmetoni. There was a lot of waltzing, foxtrot, salsa, jive and rock ‘n’ roll: that and everything else we saw is exactly what you would expect from a show like this. The final medley where I could pick out ‘Run Rudolph Run’, ‘Frosty the Snowman’, ‘Wonderful Christmastime’, ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ and ending with everyone boogieing away to ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ had brough the audience in the Cliffs Pavilion to its feet clapping and cheering.

Earlier we had heard from Aljaž how for him and Janette the most important things at this time of year are ‘love and kindness’. He asked us to ‘Be kind to someone you never met, a stranger or family member. Be kind to anybody, you never know how much your smile will change someone’s day’. Well, Aljaž and Janette made everybody smile in the theatre and kickstarted Christmas 2022 for many, including me.

Jim Pritchard

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