“Dirty Dancing” is widely considered a classic movie that has the right amount of drama, comedy, romance, and of course, dancing. In “Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage,” however, it was mostly dancing and comedy.
Whether it was intentional or not, the moments that called for an audience at the edge of its seat came off as cheesy and elicited too much laughter to be taken seriously. Everyone in the audience had already seen the movie. The musical was in danger of becoming a quote-along had there not been so many dance numbers.
While the stage direction was definitely creative in portraying scenes such as Johnny, (Samuel Pergande, “Billy Elliot”) teaching Baby (Jillian Mueller, “Flashdance-The Musical”) lifts in the water, the acting was less than superb, and the effect was so cheesy at time that it was hard to keep watching.
One of the biggest disappointments of the evening was the lack of chemistry between Mueller and Pergande. There was a huge height difference between the actors which made the close, borderline-grinding scenes quite uncomfortable.
The storyline seemed rushed and glazed over important aspects of the movie while emphasizing dance numbers that contributed nothing to the plot.
“Dirty Dancing,” the movie, was a little over one hundred minutes. “Dirty Dancing,” the play, was about three hours with intermission. With all that time, it failed to show any character development. One minute, Baby and Johnny meet and a few minutes later they’re getting raunchy on a spinning stage bed.
At points, it was tiring to watch but the reactions from the audience made the entire experience entertaining in all aspects. It’s recommended that you stick to the movie and spare yourself a long evening with an audience who probably saw the original when it came out in theatres in 1987.
“Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage” is playing at the National Theater until Sept. 14.
