Dirty Dancing – Bord Gais Energy Theatre – Review
by Brian Merriman

Duration: 130 minutes with interval – Bord Gais Energy Theatre at 7.30pm

‘Dirty Dancin’g the movie will always be associated with the late Patrick Swayze, who strutted and seduced his way across the screen in 1987, matching the success of John Travolta a decade earlier, for successful cult, screen dance musicals.

Peppered with a 1963 soundtrack – 60 years old – Bergstein takes the screenplay and brings it to the stage with mixed success, but clearly delighting the cult following whose current allegiance is clearly invested in the stage show. The scenes are fast brief and edited so finely, that no character gets to shine much. Michael O’Reilly takes the leading role of the guy from the ‘hood who dances his summer away in Kellermans Holiday resort and is in constant demand for ‘lessons’ from the female clientele.

We don’t know how a guy from the ‘hood ever got caught up in Latin American dancing. We get very little plot to work with, so this production goes with recreating the iconic screen images and does so with a lot of success. O’Reilly (Johnny Castle) has an impossible physique – so much so that the ‘hen party heckling’ of a section of the audience, not only embarrassed its Dublin outing but actually caused the actors to pause near the dramatic end of Act One, as the bare-chested actor was being drowned out with female audience catcalls. They coped well.

His presence is undeniable and his dancing, especially with the super agile, statuesque Penny (Georgia Aspinall was the choreographic highlight of the show). Kira Malou was every inch of Jennifer Grey’s screen ‘Baby’. Though described in the early text as a ‘natural dancer’ – much fun was made out of her exaggerating her inability to dance, until of course the end.

There was a huge, talented, energetic ensemble whose work powered from the stage. Their constant set and costume changing were flawless and their dance talent was obvious. They certainly have the ability to deliver a much more exciting opening sequence.

From this ensemble, we heard individual voices, most notably Danny Colligan who with Lydia Sterling, popped out frequently to deliver some really great vocals. And that’s another unusual thing about the structure of the show, the two leads do not sing at all…but they certainly dance!

There were many strong supporting roles, especially Colin Charles (Tito), and the Houseman parents Jake Loy and Taryn Sudding. Comedy as it was, was in the capable hands of Daisy Steere as Lisa, but a rather irritating comic invention of the drunken guest (energetically played) designed to lighten the mood, in the absence of any real comedy plot, was overdone.

The drama is played under the tense backdrop of 1963 race-divided America in the summer before Kenndy is assassinated. The social issues of the time are used to enhance the drama of class, race, and the emerging independent role of women.

‘Kellerman’s Holiday Resort’ offers scenery, activities, entertainment and dance classes.  Kellerman (Mark McKerracher) wonders will that type of entertainment last…it will if they keep hiring Johnny Castles and Kellerman’s Band who were in fine form throughout with great arrangements, playing and vocals to really recreate the music of sixty years ago live on stage. Multi-instrument playing by Gabriel Askew, Morgan Burgess, Richard John, Tom Mussell, Tom Parsons and Tim Wade created a wonderful sound and score that filled the theatre with quality renditions. The dance arrangements were full, rhythmic and exciting. A great sound that saw us on our way home at the end.

‘Dirty Dancing’ is billed as ‘the classic story on stage’ rather than a musical. It is quite a challenge to compete with the much-loved screen version and iconic characters. This stage production succeeded in recreating those screen memories live, thanks to a very talented company, some great music and dances and a lot of nostalgia. The audience, including the cat callers, loved it too.

Credits:
Written by Eleanor Bergstein
Directed and set designs by Federico Bellone
Choreography by Austin Wilks
Supervising Musical Director: Richard John
Produced by Karl Sydow, Lionsgate and Magic Hour Productions