Review: Dirty Dancing at the Piccadilly Theatre

Dirty Dancing

Piccadilly Theatre

Reviewed on Thursday 18th July 2013

Dirty Dancing first opened in London back in 2006 and the production went down in history for being the fastest selling West End show of all time. After a five year run, Dirty Dancing has been touring for the past few years. However, following the early closure of Viva Forever and the announcement that Jersey Boys will transfer to the Piccadilly Theatre next March, it was announced that Dirty Dancing would fill the gap between the two productions.

Dirty Dancing is a show which needs no introduction. Everybody knows the classic love story between Baby Houseman and Johnny Castle as the 1987 film is one of the greatest and most iconic movies of all time. The main problem with the stage version of Dirty Dancing is that it literally is the film on stage. Not one risk has been taken and it just does not work.

The cast are absolutely incredible and keep the show alive. The dancing is mesmerising and performed to the highest standard possible. Following the closure of Singin' in the Rain and the upcoming closure of Top Hat, the West End has been crying out for a new dance show to open it's doors to the public... and here it is.

Jill Winternitz and Paul-Michael Jones lead the cast superbly as Baby and Johnny, following in the footsteps of Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze. As the musical also features the film's soundtrack, bizarrely the two leads don't even sing. Of course they dance unbelievably well and conclude the show by doing the famous lift during '(I've Had) The Time Of My Life', much to the delight of the cheering audience.

Paul-Michael Jones & Charlotte Gooch

The strongest performance comes from Charlotte Gooch, as Penny Johnson, who was most recently seen starring as Dale Tremont in Top Hat. Her acting is perfect and when she dances, Charlotte demands the attention off the entire audience and always stands out when on stage.

I often hear people complain about how many films have been made into musicals over the past few years. However, I don't see a problem with it - if a book can be adapted into a musical, why can't a film? Legally Blonde and Ghost are two of my favourite musicals and both were originally films. They are great musicals because the writers went back to the drawing board and adapted details of the original to create a brand new piece of theatre, which stands strong in its own right (you don't have to have seen the film to appreciate the musical). Whereas with Dirty Dancing, if you haven't seen the film, seeing the stage show would be a rather strange experience.

Stephen Brimson Lewis' set design is unimaginative. Sometimes the most simple of sets can be the most effective, but often the stage appears empty. The revolving centre piece is overused and made me feel dizzy. The scene which sees Johnny teach Baby the lift in the sea is just shocking. In fact, it looked so awful that I felt embarrassed for the cast members who had to perform it. They stand behind a screen which has the sea projected onto it, which is visually terrible - it looks like the pair are dancing underwater. This is why certain aspects of a film have to be reworked for a stage show. Projections are also used throughout the duration of the musical to set each scene. Instead of complementing the piece, I often found them distracting, pointless and highly irritating. 

Quite simply, if you have always loved the Dirty Dancing film and have watched it hundreds of times you will adore this stage show. Dirty Dancing is a bunch of incredibly talented performers reenacting a film with a great band and a poor design. However, if you are looking to see a big West End musical, there are so many better options than Dirty Dancing. Personally I preferred Viva Forever! 

Reviewed by Andrew Tomlins (Editor)

andrew@westendframe.com

Dirty Dancing runs at the Piccadilly Theatre until 22nd February 2014.
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