Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay
Thurs 8 Nov
words: ANGHARAD BROWN
★★★★☆
It seems to be a rite of passage for most women to have seen the film Dirty Dancing and, to at some point in their life, have wished that they were the character of Baby having a good old session (dancing), with Patrick Swayze’s character of Johnny. Even if you haven’t seen the film, I’m sure you’d recognise some of the key iconic moments of the film including that lift, the arm tickle, the log scene, the songs, the Baby in the corner moment etc.
Immediately, the importance of music and dance was portrayed with a fantastic rendition of Be My Baby by the chorus, obviously accompanied by some seriously sexy dancing. The high standard and energy of these dancers continued throughout the performance. The first half ends with Johnny and Baby in the throes of passion, and for a moment I wondered exactly how far they were going to go on stage. Thankfully the lights came up before we could see if they actually went through with it or not, but it was convincing enough for me to feel quite hot under the collar and sporting quite a blush as we exited the theatre for the interval.
As you would expect, the key moments from the film are included in the show and emphasised to become huge crowd-pleasing moments. I also enjoyed the attention to detail extended to the costumes; for example Baby wore the denim pedal pushers, white pumps and cotton top, her dad carried the same medicine bag. Something the stage show offered which the film doesn’t was an underlying comedy value which was largely down to the character of Baby’s sister Lisa (played by Emilia Williams). Overall the cast was incredible, but I especially enjoyed Nicky Griffiths as Penny Johnson, who not only looked the part, but was an amazing dancer and was convincing during the more serious scenes that come after her abortion. Another role that was excellently cast was that of Baby’s father Dr. Jake Houseman who was played by Newport-born James Coombes, aka the Milk Tray man.