English National Ballet’s summer seasons of arena ballet have become a regular fixture at the Albert Hall, with the choreographer Derek Deane’s adaptations of the classics. But, this year, they have plumped for something completely different: Strictly Gershwin, a razzmatazz spectacular in dance, music and song to celebrate the glamour of Hollywood and Broadway in the era of the Gershwin brothers. The publicity features a classic image of Fred and Ginger, which is quite something to live up to.

Although there is much fun, and Deane’s talents as an enthusiastic showman are well known, the evening feels rather a bumpy ride – an awkward mix of styles, with the sense of interruption for guest star spots. Gareth Valentine, the adept and vigorous musical director, also dances his own routines on the podium, which to me is going a bit too far. But the Gershwin melodies are dazzlingly played and sung by ENB’s orchestra (a rare excursion into jazz for them), the Maida Vale Singers and the visiting queen of song, the celebrated Barbara Cook. She began her Broadway career in 1951, so is now of a certain age. Majestic in a robe that glitters like a hall of mirrors, she bewitches in ravishing accounts of such numbers as A Foggy Day and I’ve Got a Crush on You.

Since ENB is a classical ballet company, Deane bases his big opening number, to a musical medley, on the exercises and progressions of the daily class – an idea that sounds promising but seems to run out of steam. The Man I Love is a loving and parting duet of dreamy romanticism, the kind that Deane does well and that Agnes Oaks and Thomas Edur can make lushly alluring on an otherwise bare stage in this vast space. Several spots are devoted to the guest tap dancers, Douglas Mills and Paul Robinson (one of whom bashes away on top of the grand piano), and to the British ballroom champions and stars of Strictly Come Dancing, Lilia Kopylova and Darren Bennett, plushly audacious and physically (being rather compact) an odd contrast to the ballet people. These guests dance in their own choreography, and it doesn’t gel with the rest.

The costume designer, Roberta Guidi di Bagno, contributes a visual feast, and the ENB ladies, in high heels, sequined white gowns with black trim and blonde 1930s-style wigs, with the men in tails, are a gorgeous sight, led by Elena Glurdjidze and Friedemann Vogel (he guesting from Stuttgart Ballet) in Deane’s swirlingly stylish Shall We Dance number. The slow-motion projection of Astaire and Rogers on big screens to go with it is a mistake and a distraction, like the stills of other stage and screen greats used generally. The sour visage of Bette Davis loomed disconcertingly over us just when ENB had transformed themselves into a brilliant ensemble of tappers (both sexes in tails) for Oh, Lady Be Good.

The climax of Act I is An American in Paris: a whimsical parade of nuns, nannies with prams, matelots white-faced like Marcel Marceau, soldiers, a postman on a bike and showgirls from the Moulin Rouge.

Handsome Guillaume Côté (National Ballet of Canada) is the eager American, pursuing his vision of the Royal Ballet’s Tamara Rojo in her dual role of sweet girl and vamp, and their dancing is succulent and magnetic. The equivalent number to close the show is, of course, Rhapsody in Blue, with Jonathan Scott scintillating at the piano. The two-tone blue tutus are stunning en masse; but, for a ballet set-piece, Deane’s choreography is disjointed - the ensemble sit or stand around to watch Rojo and Côté’s solos, and the effect is deflating. Basically, the musical construction of Rhapsody is not best suited to the classical ballet medium, or, at any rate, to Deane’s conventional approach within it.

A special event also at the Albert Hall, Summertime was the culmination of an ambitious dance in education project for 12 London secondary schools, assisted by ENB artists and tied in with the Gershwin season. Jenna Lee choreographed Rhapsody in Blue for this programme and achieved striking effects with all 180 children. Each school’s separate contribution focused on a different dance style - Afro-Caribbean, tango, disco, capoeira among them. I liked particularly an elegant and spirited lindy hop (to Strike up the Band) from Brampton Manor, Newham, but zest and commitment were everywhere. As one of the rehearsal directors remarked: “Projects like this are gold dust.”

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