WITHOUT wanting to sound too much like the acid-tongued Craig Revel Horwood, Midnight Tango lacked even a modicum of a story.

It seemed more like a Strictly Come Dancing spin-off than the latest musical sensation to go on a UK tour.

The big names of the show were Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace, professional dancers of Strictly fame. Cacace's footwork gets a ten, but Simone's passion just wasn't there - a four. They are brilliant dancers but are not musical theatre performers.

Other performers were underused. We caught only glimpses of the absolutely fabulous Monika Wydrowska, from Poland, who gave a convincing performance.

Humour was brought to the evening in the form of double act Teddy Kempner and Tricia Deighton, of West End acclaim. Their characters of landlord and landlady in the Argentine bar provided a welcome contrast. It was a shame that dancers were put on stage while Kempner's beautiful solo was played out. It would have held more poignancy for me if he was truly alone.

The band Tango Siempre were a saving grace for this show with music which brought colourful Latin flavours from Buenos Aires.

Predictably the show got rampant applause from an audience which has far too often been subjected to spin-offs of TV and film successes.

Midnight Tango runs at Bristol Hippodrome until Saturday, July 16.