An Evening with Anton Due Beke at the Hawth: Strictly star pays tribute to Len Goodman and Bruce Forsyth at brilliant show

There was some nice songs in it, performances were good but there was a major problem with – it was about the wrong person. Michael Gracey’s film was based on PT Barnum, but it should have been based on – going by his his show at The Hawth – Anton Du Beke.

The Strictly Come Dancing judge/former professional is a tour de force and is very good at what he does – and he does a lot. We all know about the dancing, which is pretty good as you would imagine, but he can sing, he can flirt, he can make you laugh, he has the audience patter and he is a tremendous raconteur.

Add to that the silky smooth, soulful voice of special guest Lance Ellington (you will recognise him from Strictly as well) and you have a great show.

From the moment he told you he was going to rouge his knees with the All That Jazz opener, which was quickly followed by Cabaret’s Willkomenn (Anton would make a great Emcee wouldn’t he?), you knew it would be a good night.

Between there dances Anton took questions from audience via text messages and this lead to some wonderful tales of Strictly and from his life – including fun stories about Ann Widdicombe and dancing with his family in his kitchen.

The dances were exemplary, as you would expect, with the dramatic and sexy Tango the highlight. With the sad news this week of Len Goodman’s passing, Anton dedicated his foxtrot to him and it made the dance poignant as well as classy.

And when Anton wasn’t telling stories, answering questions or dancing, he was singing – and wow, he really can sing. He and Lance performed some great duets including Me and My Shadow, Do-Re-Mi, New, New York and a wonderful mash-up of Mack the Knife and Don’t Rain on My Parade.

Everything you expect Anton to be, he is, and he knows what his audience wants, and he delivers in bucketloads. Funny, classy and entertaining – An Evening with Anton Du Beke is one not to miss.