'Every element of the staging is sensational: from Gillian Bruce’s hypnotic choreography to Roberto Comotti’s rotating set design' is Cristina Lago's four-star review of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage showing at the New Victoria Theatre until March 23...
OUR VERDICT
Dirty Dancing has gone down in film history as the classic teen summer romance that brought Patrick Swayze to stardom and gave us some unforgettable music hits which often play on Smooth FM. And there’s, of course, that final lift scene - who can forget that?
Unfortunately, the blockbuster is less remembered for the much more interesting and significant themes that it dealt with, such as abortion, class conflict and the civil rights movement. Behind the sexy dancing and catchy songs lies a social and political subtext of the 60s America somewhat uncommon for 1987.
Most musical theatre adaptations of films tend to neglect important elements of the plot to focus instead in the visual and music features. That, however, is not the case of Dirty Dancing’s stage version, which not only keeps the core subjects intact, it also elaborates on some of them slightly further.
For those who need a memory refresh, here’s a quick story recap: it’s the summer of 1963 and the well-to-do Houseman family goes on summer holiday to Kellerman’s resort in upstate New York. There are two types of staff working in the hotel: the young Ivy League students who are there to do seasonal work as waiters and the working class entertainment staff. Needless to say, guests don’t mingle with the later group outside of the dancing classes.
Baby (Kira Malou), the Housemans’ idealist daughter, finds out that one of the dancers, Penny (Simone Covele), got pregnant by one of the waiters (Tom Bowen), who is also chasing her sister, Lisa (Lizzie Ottley). Penny wants an abortion, which was illegal at the time but doesn’t have the money or someone to cover her dance show with Johnny (Michael O’Reilly). Baby gives her the cash after borrowing from her father, who doesn’t know what he is paying for, and volunteers to stand in for Penny. During her dance sessions with Johnny, a love affair develops.
The stage plot remains loyal to Eleanor Bergstein’s film by keeping the action structure and pretty much all lines intact. There are however some interesting additions which did not feature on the film. One of them is the inclusion of Martin Luther King, Jr ’s March on Washington speech followed by the singing of Pete Seeger’s ‘We Shall Overcome’. Neil Kellerman, who in the film tells Baby that he is planning to go to Mississippi on a “freedom ride”, probably as a way to impress her, has a change of heart on stage. And despite the anachronism and indulgence of this addition, is nonetheless effective at the time of portraying 60s youth idealism.
Maybe the only role variation comes from Baby, whose strong and fierce personality reflected on the film gets slightly compromised on stage to give way to a more clownish character - which nonetheless proved effective judging by the audience’s jolly laughter.
Every element of the staging is sensational: from Gillian Bruce’s hypnotic choreography to Roberto Comotti’s rotating set design, this Dirty Dancing is just a joy to watch and listen. The dancers’ talent is simply exceptional. Still, there’s a major downside is the superficial acting and lack of chemistry between the main characters despite the impressive and excellent dancing performances. Maybe those who haven’t seen the film beforehand might be more lenient with the acting but there’s no doubt that there’s a spark missing and some excess in affectation.
And now, there’s only one way we can finish this: nobody puts baby in a corner.