Dirty Dancing London - Reviewed
Oh to be 17 again!
Well, let's be honest, not many of us relish the thought of going back to that age, with those awkward moments of meeting someone and not being able to muster anything cooler than “I carried a watermelon”. The experience of falling in love for the first time however, now there's something we would all like to experience over and over and over again.
The West End production of Dirty Dancing the musical is adapted from the 1987 film, and if for some bizarre reason you have never seen this well-loved story then let me give you whistle stop rundown: a well rounded all-American Family go to a holiday camp in the summer of 1963. Baby, the female lead, is 17 and innocent. Baby meets hunky dance teacher, they fall in love, and someone has the nerve to put Baby in the corner!
I was a little nervous about seeing the West End production of Dirty Dancing the musical for the first time. There was a real risk that I, and my fellow fans, may be about to experience something that would tarnish its good name. Thankfully our fears were put to rest within seconds of the production starting. Hearing Baby utter lines lifted straight from the film reassured us all that what we were going to see was a lovingly restaged version of the story.
Dirty Dancing London is every bit as romantic and heart-warming as the original film. Some may criticise the stage version for being too much like the original, but when so many love the story, why should that be a problem? Although the leads do not sing, there are several scenes where members of the ensemble cast bring to life tracks that in previous versions of the production were simply pre-recordings. In the Still of the Night, for example, stirs emotions that remind you of those first love tingles.
The quality of the dancers was very high and each was suitably bendy enough for the choreography. There was an awful lot of flipping and twisting, causing people to wiggle about in their seats, and by the end of the show the audience were up on their feet sharing in the high energy glitterball encore.
The most important scene is, of course, The Time of My Life, and when Johnny bursts back through the door the crowd screamed with excitement and couldn't help but cheer when Baby was dragged out of the corner that nobody should ever have dared put her in! Leaving the Aldwych Theatre, I wanted the evening to continue, I wanted to go dancing, I wanted to loop back through the maze of the theatre and experience it all over again, and although I desperately don’t want to finish on a pun I just can’t help it - Dirty Dancing London is quite simply the time of your life.
Review by: Philippa Briscoe
