When I told my husband that I had two tickets to see Dirty Dancing at the Piccadilly Theatre, he let out a huge groan – which, roughly translated from man-speak meant, ‘I’d rather my eyes bleed.’ With that settled, I took my mum and we prepared ourselves for a night of guilty pleasure.
This stage production of Dirty Dancing is based on the 1987 box office hit (and Eleanor Bergstein-penned) film of the same name, which starred the late Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. It tells the story of a girl named Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman, who falls in love with the suave dancer Johnny Castle whilst on a family holiday at Catskill mountain resort.
Not that I remembered any of this before I went to see the show. In all honesty, I remembered very little about the original film – besides Johnny’s strong objection to Baby being in the corner and the cheesy classic (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life. And of course, the saucy dancing which, since the rise of the likes of Rihanna and Miley Cyrus, seems comparatively modest.
We had great seats – seats so close I could see the lace fronts on the cast members’ wigs.
To be fair, the film Dirty Dancing was always going to present a challenge to transfer to the stage. In the famous scene where Baby and Johnny were practising their big dance lift in the lake, water was provided courtesy of computer-generated imagery on a big screen. A clever idea in principle but poorly executed in practice. Baby and Johnny didn’t so much splash in and out of the water as dance about in front of it. Puppets, we could see the strings.
The story is set in 1963 and although it nods to the era of Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, it does so in a way that lacks real meaning, sentiment or integrity. In one scene around the campfire, the characters reflected on how far they had come in terms of racial equality and began to sing We Shall Overcome. The scene felt rather forced and slightly farcical given that moments later, the lead singer continued singing whilst grinding and gyrating enthusiastically. I am not quite sure that this is the kind of movement that Dr. King initially had in mind.
Having said that, there were notable performances from Jason Coombes, who gave a credible performance as Baby’s Father Dr. Jake Houseman, and Baby’s sister (Lisa Houseman), played by Emilia Williams provided some light entertainment in an otherwise slow-moving second half. Also, Penny Johnson played by Charlotte Gooch was a phenomenal dancer.
Dirty Dancing broke records by becoming the fastest-selling show in the West End in 2006 and due to popular demand, will tour the UK in March 2014.
To book your tickets now: Visit Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage NOW!!!
Written by Kazstarlet
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