Review: Stepping Out at SkyCity Theatre

The cast portray a mixed bag of tap-dance enthusiasts. Photo / Supplied

Auckland Theatre Company's winter extravaganza hits all the right notes with a feel-good comedy that taps into our secret longing for a taste of the applause and exaltation that is showered on over-night celebrities.

The story spins around a motley collection of tap-dance enthusiasts who seek out the haphazard companionship of community night classes as an antidote to the misery, boredom or isolation of their everyday lives.

British playwright Richard Harris has created an ensemble of keenly-observed personalities representing a broad range of social classes and the cast has clearly had plenty of fun with the makeover that transforms the characters into instantly recognisable denizens of Auckland's North Shore.

Suzanne Paul is perfectly at ease on stage - effortlessly slipping into the bright and breezy insouciance of a self-absorbed house-wife who is blissfully unaware of the offence caused by her tactless comments and instinctive snobbery.

Goretti Chadwick quickly established herself as an audience favourite with her exuberant portrayal of a loud, hard-case Samoan woman who could have stepped straight out of a bro'Town animation.

Physical awkwardness, an appalling dress sense and social ineptitude are displayed to great comic effect by Hera Dunleavy and Jason Te Mete who provide the prescribed dose of nerdiness.

Christina Asher and Michelle Leuthart both deliver the kind of sassy swagger that would not be out of place on Outrageous Fortune while Olivia Tennet gives an endearing performance as the eager-beaver, tap-dancing virtuoso and Sia Trokenheim presents an elegant study of suburban neurosis.

The troupe is rounded out with Sandra Rasmussen's sensitive portrayal of a dance instructor hoping to recapture her moment in the limelight and Penny Dodd as the high-maintenance piano player.

John Parker's sharp sense of the Kiwi vernacular creates a precise facsimile of a suburban community hall and Colin McColl's brisk direction delivers some nice snippets of physical comedy.

It would have been good to see the balance tipped away from the small talk and dance rehearsals with a bit more focus on the back stories that are tantalisingly alluded to but never really explored.

But once the dance crew set their sight on a televised charity gig their eagerness becomes infectious and the extravagant finale is a rollicking celebration of the Kiwi give-it-a-go enthusiasm.

Stepping Out will be on at SkyCity Theatre until July 3.