Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage – standing up for other people’s rights in a fast-moving musical production (Grand Opera House until 2 September)

The musical theatre adaptation of the hit independent film Dirty Dancing firmly roots the action in 1963, a time of change in the US as old ways were challenged and civil rights were asserted. The real socio-political moves happen in parallel with the fictional shifts in the Kellerman’s family resort where jaded holiday pass times were holding back more modern pursuits.

Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman is holidaying with her sister and parents. She intervenes to help one of the resort’s dancers Penny, ends up filling in for her at a nearby dance event, and falls in love with the tall, dark and handsome dance teacher Johnny.

The screaming and swooning of much of the audience suggests that a lot of film fans were in the house, mouthing along with the lyrics of the soundtrack and trembling as Johnny showed off more and more skin. Michael O’Reilly has stage presence. He struts on stage as Johnny, a cross between Patrick Swayze and John Travolta with an in-your-face accent. First in a vest, then bare chested, then down to his tighty-whities, O’Reilly and his performing pecs give a good show. But there’s a lot more going on in Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage, a production which has aged much better than some of its touring rivals.

If the holiday is a coming-of-age experience for Baby (Kira Malou – no stranger to the Grand Opera House stage having appeared in a Peter Pan pantomime), it’s also a season of maturing for Johnny who realised that he’s the one being used by the women throwing themselves at him on while on vacation. Both are standing up for other’s people’s rights. While Baby has the access to cash to help others around her, Johnny is living precariously while looking out for his dance partner Penny (Georgia Aspinall), and some of the resort staff are planning to travel to southern states to be ‘freedom riders’ (interracial groups riding public transport together as permitted by the 1960 Supreme Court decision but a scenario still met with violence from white mobs in some locations).

Whereas some musical theatre would need a page or two of dialogue to complete a scene, Eleanor Bergstein – who incidentally spent her family holidays dancing in the Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel while her parents were playing golf – needs just three or four lines to hit a beat and move the story on. It’s almost televisual, stripping away any superfluous lines to leave the bare bones story. Scenery flies in and out as fast as the lights fade down and up. Combined with Federico Bellone’s direction and his superb set design – for the two cannot really be split apart – this allows a very fast-paced first act to whistle through the plot, with barely a moment’s break. It’s incredibly slick and should be studied by other shows to understand how it can be achieved.

The band play on-stage, adding to the live vibe of the show. And by the moment they crank up The Time of My Life, Malou has stopped pretending that Baby has any difficulty dancing and hits the trademark lift with confidence. The off-stage chemistry between the two leads – much like Bat Out of Hell: The Musical – adds to the on-stage familiarity and cements the strong eye contact as Baby and Johnny fall in love. While the principals steal much of the spotlight, the wider Houseman family also impress after the interval. Daisy Steere delivers a bravura no-holds-barred Hula performance, while Jack Loy and Taryn Sudding take every chance to animate the initially flat parents’ characters.

Johnny is objectified, men are shown to be scoundrels, and women are three dimensional. It’s quite a refreshing take for musical theatre! Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage is playing in the Grand Opera House for two weeks, ending on Saturday 2 September and heading to Dublin for a fortnight and then a week in Derry. 

Photo credits: Mark Senior

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