First published: 19 Mar 2010

Australian dance show Tap Dogs is to return to London this summer, opening at the Novello theatre on 15 June with Adam Garcia leading the cast.

Tap Dogs is a dance group that began in a steel town north of Sydney, the home of choreographer and former industrial worker Dein Perry, who wanted to create a contemporary show that combines tap dancing with an industrial theme.

Tap Dogs was first presented at the Sydney Theatre Festival in 1995 and came to the UK during that year’s Edinburgh Festival. The show subsequently played at London’s Sadler’s Wells, earning Perry a 1996 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer. After taking part in the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, the group returned to Sadler’s Wells in 2001.

Australian actor Garcia made his London debut in the tap-dancing musical Hot Shoe Shuffle, which was co-choreographed by Perry at the Queen’s theatre in 1994. Since then he has appeared on the London stage in Grease, Saturday Night Fever – for which he received a 1999 Laurence Olivier Award nomination – and as the original Fiyero in the London production of Wicked. Recently he has been seen as a judge on Sky One’s Got To Dance.

The cast of Tap Dogs also includes Douglas Mills, Matthew Papa, Richie Miller, Donovan Helma, Jesse Rasmussen and Jason Lewis.

The Novello theatre currently hosts Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, which ends its run on 10 April, to be followed by a limited season of Grumpy Old Women Live 2: Chin Up Britain.

Tap Dogs is booking to 5 September.

CB