Grand Opera House York – 18 October 2016. Reviewed by Michelle Richardson
Everyone knows the classic film so well, with its iconic music, dancing and stars. This tour of Dirty Dancing brings it to the stage. Now showing at the Grand Opera House, York until Saturday 22nd October, touring throughout 2016/2017.
We turned up at the Opera House, after battling heavy traffic and doing a good impression of powerwalking to get there on time, to find a mass of people queuing to get inside. It is certainly the biggest queue I have seen to any event we have attended. Everyone was excited to be there and were looking forward to getting in and the show starting. The queue quickly dissipated and we were there ready and waiting for the show to begin. The auditorium was packed, with predominately ladies over 40, including myself!
It’s the summer of 1963, when America was still innocent. Set in the Catskill Mountains at Kellermans we meet Baby, played by Katie Hartland, and the Houseman family. She manages to gatecrash a staff party, and yes the “I carried a watermelon” scene is included, and is memorized by Johnny Castle, played by Lewis Griffiths, who had the audience swooning from his first muscular appearance, and the raunchy dancing, which is more explicit than I remember. The dancers certainly deliver an impact and Carlie Milner as Penny is outstanding.
The story follows the film closely and we see the naïve Baby maturing into a young woman, and from a shy, clumsy dancer into someone who is confident and able to hold her own. I found some of the learning to dance section a bit of a disappointment, and silly, especially the lake scene, I’m sure it could have been done differently, though it did provide a giggle and the projection was pretty good to see.
The set was very good with moving buildings which created a seamless transition from scene to scene. The cast are a talented group, from the actors and the dancers with all the lifts and gyrating. Daniela Pobega and Simon Campbell, who stepped in as understudy for Billy, delivered great vocal performances.
For the first half of the show I was not convinced, but it did get a lot better the second half, and I started to feel the chemistry between Baby and Johnny. The audience certainly appreciated Johnny’s naked scene. Both Hartland and Griffiths put in admirable performances, but I was not blown away. The finale for me was the highlight of the show and that really made the whole play worth it.
Did we have “the time of our lives”? Maybe not, but it is still an exciting show to go and see. I did leave on a high with a feel good felling and I would certainly recommend to all.
I am now off to watch the film all over again!