DIRTY DANCING | STAGE REVIEW
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Thurs 19 Mar
There is a shelf space reserved for this classic film in the home of every woman who was a teenager in the mid-1980s. It will undoubtedly be viewed without shame every so often, and loved every time. Who can forget Patrick Swayze gyrating across the floor in a vest, or the numerous attempts forcing your drippy boyfriend to catch you in a swan lift? Well, those heady days may be over but the dream lives on…
Set in the Kellermans camp in 1963, Dirty Dancing follows the Houseman family on a two-week vacation and how Baby, the youngest daughter, falls for Johnny the lothario dance instructor. Amidst the backdrop of the Kennedy assassination and Martin Luther King’s speech, it also touches on family values, trust and class.
The key scenes from the movie are cleverly intertwined with the live action and the set dance scenes are brilliant. From the classic Hungry Eyes, an Eric Carmen driving tune, to In The Still Of The Night, Love Is Strange and Mickey & Sylvia, all the scene-stealing songs and moves are here. Gareth Bailey plays Johnny – very handsome and a talented dancer, if no Patrick Swayze – while Roseanna Frascona, as Baby, bears an uncanny resemblance to the film’s original star Jennifer Gray and admirably portrays the slightly awkward young woman standing by her values.
You cannot but help make comparisons to the original, yet the show is a feelgood, uplifting two hours. The music and passion genuinely get the crowd cheering throughout, especially when Gareth rips his shirt off several times. The finale is, obviously, the big number, and the roars and cheering predictably drowned out the rendition of The Time Of My Life. You can’t fail to embrace the cheese-and-glitterball haven that is Dirty Dancing.
words ANTONIA LEVAY