So romantic. Sigh.
Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage, the current Broadway show now dancing across the Connor Palace stage at Playhouse Square (and until March 22), does a darn good job of recreating the 1980s film that brought Patrick Swayze (as hot dance teacher Johnny Castle) and Jennifer Grey (as naive teenager “Baby” Houseman) to fame.
Plenty of sexy moves, demonstrations of athletic flexibility, a gorgeous cast, a lively band perched high on stage–all necessary elements–meshed together to offer this light-hearted look at a 1960s summer family vacation camp life in New York’s Catskill Mountains for the rich and those who serve them. Oh yes, it’s brainless fodder–stereotypes galore (rich Jewish doctors, sleezy Ivy League boys, blue collar hustlers) and buzz words–Peace Corps, MLK, Freedom Riders–scattered around anchor it in place, but don’t dwell on problems.
But all of that is all right. It’s just a musical (and one that while widely toured, has not been on Broadway) and it takes us all on a pleasant little trip to a place and time far away. (Any place without snow looks good right now.)
Understudy Josh Drake as opening night’s Johnny Castle had all the necessary sexy moves. Gillian Abbott as Baby seemed appropriately quirky and curious (and channelled film star Grey’s flat-footed walk and posture almost perfectly). The big closing song, “I’ve Had the Time of My Life,” calls on everyone, but others (“This Magic Moment,” “Do You Love Me?” and more) fell to soloists, including the rather fabulous JennLee Shallow and John Antony (both billed as “special vocalists”).
Bravo to set designer Stephen Brimson Lewis who made video/photography magic that turned the stage, variously, into a camp dining room, a bedroom, a cabin, a lake, a porch, a wheat field–whatever the story called for. The show was directed by James Powell with choreography by Michele Lynch based on the original choreography by Kate Champion.
Bottom line: If you kinda remember the film and liked it then you’ll probably enjoy the show. If you absolutely loved the film (and even bought the DVD) then you might find you miss seeing the facial expressions of the actors who convinced you, despite rather thin dialogue, that they were real people.
Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage plays here through March 22. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Playhouse Square Ticket Office (1519 Euclid Ave in downtown Cleveland), online at playhousesquare.org or by calling 216.241.6000.
Laura Kennelly is a freelance arts journalist, a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, and an associate editor of BACH, a scholarly journal devoted to J. S. Bach and his circle.Listening to and learning more about music has been a life-long passion. She knows there’s no better place to do that than the Cleveland area.
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