Monday, September 7, 2015

Dirty Dancing the Musical

A few days before we set sail on our cruise the Hubby and I took a trip into Brisbane to see Dirty Dancing. Dirty Dancing was my favourite movies as a teen. I had a huge crush on Patrick Swayze and watched the movie about a hundred times.

For anyone out there who hasn't heard of the film (probably no one!) Dirty Dancing is set in the summer of 1963, and 17 year- old Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman is about to learn some major lessons in life as well as a thing or two about dancing.

On holiday in New York’s Catskill Mountains with her older sister and parents, ‘Baby’ shows little interest in the resort activities, and instead discovers her own entertainment when she stumbles upon the staff quarters when an all-night dance party is in full swing. Mesmerised by the raunchy dance moves and the pounding rhythms, ‘Baby’ can’t wait to be part of the scene, especially when she catches sight of Johnny Castle the resort dance instructor.

‘Baby’s’ life is about to change forever as she is thrown in at the deep end as Johnny’s leading lady both on-stage and off with breathtaking consequences.

When they turned the film into a musical I just had to see it but I was a little apprehensive that the musical would not live up to the movie and quite simply no one could possible replace Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle. I was concerned that a movie like Dirty Dancing would not really translate to the stage but I need not have worried as the musical although a little different in tone was still thoroughly entertaining.
Although he is no Patrick Swayze, Kurt Phelan did a stand up job in the role of Johnny Castle. He is a little young, fresh faced and clean cut to play Johnny but somehow he pulled it off. Kirby Burgess was perfect in the role of the naive Baby and the surprise performance came from dancer Maddie Peat who did a fantastic job as Penny. My only gripe would be that most of the casts American accents were a little over the top but that didn't detract too much from the show.

And with a fantastic 60's soundtrack with songs like songs including ‘Hungry Eyes’, ‘Hey! Baby’, ‘Do You Love Me?’ and the heart stopping ‘(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life’ the show is simply a must see!

Dirty Dancing will be showing in Adelaide from 2nd October. Tickets are available here.

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