The Return of the Legends at New Theatre Oxford

I went to see the Return of the Legends at the New Theatre in Oxford, nearing the end of the 2025 tour. I hadn’t really thought about what the show was about other than dancing, although I have seen a Brendan Cole show years ago, and I’m pretty sure another ex-Strictly pro’s show as well in the past.

Having a seat near the back of the stalls makes me realise why I book for presales so I can choose a) comfy seats, b) good rakes and c) off centre for easier viewing between heads. Oh, and usually get discounts.

This time I only booked a few months out which is unusual for me. Compared with the same price for other seats, it’s definitely worth looking for the better views – more theatres are showing vague pictures nowadays. And there’s a few seat planning websites where you can check out the best areas to sit in loads of different theatres.

Arriving at the theatre was a bit of a bodge job, with being sent to different doors and noone really knowing which doors they could go into to get to their seats. There seemed to be a one way system going on. You couldn’t get to the lounge for the toilets down the back stairs, so I ended up having to trek up back up again to the circle lobby toilets instead. I don’t know if they’re doing work at the theatre, but I’m really hoping if they are, that all of my other theatre bookings are at Milton Keynes!

Anyway, onto the show itself.

The Return of the Legends is the second tour for five of the former male pros from from the classic years of Strictly Come Dancing. Brendan Cole, James Jordan, Pacha Kovalev, Vincent Simone and Ian Waite, ranging from 7 to 15 years on the show each. The show brings dance, chat and reminiscing together, with the 5 friends and their female dance partners.

It’s a mix of group dances, then solo numbers.  Plus there are dance offs between themed dances of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and Patrick Swayze vs John Travolta. There were plenty of hints to the musicals with Chicago also featured.

If you’re a ballroom and latin fan, then you’ll enjoy the dancing with most of them covered across the couple of hours, from waltz, samba, jive, paso, argentine tango, rumba, foxtrots and quicksteps.  And not forgetting the more showcase style numbers.

Even if you don’t know much about dance specifics, but enjoy Strictly Come Dancing, then there’s plenty for you with reminiscing about the original judges, Bruce Forsythe and various dance partners they’ve had through their time on the show. We also heard a little about how they started out.

As expected, the dancing was great. 

With the ten dancers, they create a beautiful stage show. The staging, lighting and costumes were excellent. The music worked well and was the right volume. 

There were a couple of mistakes at points. A timing issue in the first dance with Brendan and his partner Alexandra nearly knocking the other out with a mis-timed high kick. I’m not sure how much chemistry they had compared with the other partners (it looked like she didn’t want to be there most of the time). Although their contemporary rumba was a gorgeous dance and worth waiting for.

James disappeared off the stage early on which left the others a bit adlibbing to cover but it didn’t ruin the show. He returned having had anti-sickness tablets and was able to perform a gorgeous rumba with his partner and a jive.

Each of the legends brings their own flavour and specialism to the show.

Brendan’s always been my favourite since the start of Strictly, but I really loved Vincent’s dances with his partner, Victoria. So much passion and sharp dancing.

I wasn’t that excited about the jokes and chit chat. If you don’t like rude humour then shut your ears in some bits. But it seemed to go down well with the audience. Like the stars of the show, a little bit naughty.

The second half was a mix of group numbers again, then solo dances. I really enjoyed the ballroom style group dance to old 40s music. Classic and smooth, with the girls in gorgeous gold/silver dresses and switching between the partnerships to different Astaire era well known songs that I wanted to sing along to.

The show finished off with a medley of cheesy party songs. Who thought we’d see the Strictly legends dancing to the Macarena? It was a fun finish to the evening with a standing ovation, as they announced their new show will tour in 2026.

One bonus was being able to take photos and videos throughout the show. If I’d known, I’d have wanted a seat a bit further forward to get better photos, as zoom really isn’t great with the stage lighting. It wasn’t too distracting with people taking photos on occasion.

If you want to enjoy some great dancing, a bit of cheeky chat and chance to see how some of the ‘older’ pro favourites from the earlier years of Strictly can still dance, then watch out for the 2026 tour tickets going on sale in October 2025.