Last Updated on December 12, 2024
Back at the Dominion
There can’t be many musical theatre fans in London who haven’t seen Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage before. After all, it played to around two million people on its original five-year run at the Aldwych Theatre from 2006. It has since spawned several UK tours and has popped back to the West End on several occasions, most recently in 2022. Now it’s back at Tottenham Court Road’s Dominion Theatre for a limited run before heading off round the UK and Ireland again.
This production reunites the leads from the 2022 West End cast. Johnny is played by Michael O’Reilly, who made his professional debut straight out of drama school in the same role in the 2018 tour, while Kira Malou takes on Baby. Malou is sweet and funny as she goes through the stages from stumbling innocent non-dancer to accomplished performer. I must admit to having a very soft spot for Patrick Swayze and so find it hard to picture anyone else in the role of Johnny. This isn’t to detract from O’Reilly’s performance. He’s a good dancer and a handsome presence, who elicited whoops of delight from the audience every time he took his shirt off.
The story is set in August 1963, in the same month that Martin Luther King Junior delivered his “I have a dream” speech. America is changing and this provides the backdrop to the action. Difficult themes such as the consequences of backstreet abortions and class snobbery are touched on but in the main Dirty Dancing is about first love and the joy of music and dance.
The stage show’s plot very much follows that of the film. And both versions of Dirty Dancing share the same writer, Eleanor Bergstein, who drew on her own teenage memories to come up with the story. Idealistic doctor’s daughter Frances “Baby” Houseman arrives for a family holiday at Kellerman’s in New York’s Catskill Mountains little knowing that it’s going to be an experience she’ll never forget. While the resort’s guests are taught the staid old foxtrot, there’s a much more exciting and altogether sexier type of dancing going on at night in the staff quarters. Once Baby discovers this hidden world she can’t keep way. She soon finds herself involved with Kellerman’s lead dance instructor Johnny, a young man from a blue-collar background. This pair from very different backgrounds must learn to dance together to help a friend and then, of course, they might just fall in love.
A large supporting cast of actors, musicians and dancers fill the Dirty Dancing stage. Charlotte Gooch, reprising the role of Penny, was my standout of the night. A stunning dancer, it’s hard to keep your eyes off her. She dominates the scene when she joins in helping Johnny to teach Baby the Mambo. Another cast member making a return is Georgina Castle, in a witty and entertaining turn as Baby’s big sister Lisa.
The show sits somewhere between a play, a musical and a dance extravaganza. Much of the original soundtrack is there, some of it on tape, some of it live. Musical numbers include “Hungry Eyes”, ‘”Hey! Baby” and “Do You Love Me?” While there’s often a band on stage, just a few songs are performed live by the talented singers Lydia Sterling, Colin Charles and Danny Colligan. I’d have liked more of this and I’d have loved one of them to have sung She’s Like the Wind but, sadly, this is reduced to an instrumental here. Unsurprisingly, the iconic closing number and dance routine to (I’ve Had) the Time of My Life brought the house down.
This is a touring production and it shows in the set, which is simple and slightly rickety of door. The set doesn’t quite fill the massive Dominion stage either. This really is a huge theatre but the show itself is big, loud and fun enough to evade getting lost.
This is the type of show that gets a rousing cheer when it begins and an even bigger one at the end. The audience anticipates and reacts to events before they’ve fully revealed themselves – they know exactly what’s coming. The whole production is lifted by the excitement levels off stage. It’s clear that a significant proportion of the audience have probably seen this show before, and the 1987 film itself multiple times. A great night out for Dirty Dancing addicts.
Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage is playing in London until Saturday 29 April 2023
Dominion Theatre, 268-269 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7AQ
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