BWW Reviews: DIRTY DANCING Sticks to Its Film Roots

DIRTY DANCING made its way to Houston this week. Billed as DIRTY DANCING: The Classic Story On Stage, it is no surprise that it joins the ranks of popular films turned into musicals. Based on the 1987 film that became a cult sensation, DIRTY DANCING is the story of a coming of age.

Most everybody knows the story. Set in the summer of 1963, the Houseman family is vacationing at Kellerman's resort, where the wealthy enjoy dancing and light entertainment. The dancing is very safe, and the Kellerman's youngest daughter sweet-natured "Baby" is more taken in by the more upbeat and wild dancing that takes place over in the staff quarters. When one of the dancers needs help, Baby tries to help even though the dancers (particularly Johnny) distrust her motives and dislike her rich background. As she learns to dance with Johnny though, Baby wins them over while also growing up in more ways than one over the summer.

The book for the stage version of DIRTY DANCING was created in 2004 by original screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein, and very closely follows the movie scene for scene.

As Baby, Jillian Mueller, is endearing and full of charisma. Her character's transformation of dance is thoroughly believable as well as her transformation of emotional growth. Samuel Pergande has the looks, attitude, and a graceful dancing ability needed for Johnny. Their chemistry together is sizzling and entertaining to watch.

If DIRTY DANCING is a musical then it is one of a different variety. The two leads never sing and most of the music (which is basically the film's soundtrack) comes pre-recorded and is continually in the background. A few numbers are performed live and most of those songs are brought to life by the amazing vocals of Doug Carpenter and Jennlee Shallow. Carpenter sings a gorgeous "In the Still of the Night," and Shallow shines with You Don't Own Me" and "We Shall Overcome." Together, they brought the house down with their duet for "(I've Had) The Time of My Life".

For a show called DIRTY DANCING, I expected some really amazing dancing. I feel that in this case most of the dancing throughout is so-so. The main dance numbers are there with the leads and are pretty entertaining, but this was a chance to really show off some dancing skills for everyone involved. There just isn't that much dancing. I don't fault the performers; they just aren't given much to expand upon with the lukewarm choreography originally by Kate Champion and re-created by Michele Lynch.

Set design for the show is interesting. To help with transition from film to stage, DIRTY DANCING involves the use of few set pieces and lots of projection backgrounds created by Jon Driscoll. Some of these projections were visually intriguing, and did a good job of enhancing the story. However, I found that a quite a few times, the projected background was more distracting than anything and sometimes the seamlessness of using a projection made the story sloppier. With trying to fit every scene from the film onstage, the transitions from scene to scene felt hurried and rushed. Sometimes too much technology usage isn't a good thing.

Overall, it was not what I was expecting. The biggest surprise is how the show tries to follow the film scene for scene. I would have loved if they cut down on some of those short insignificant scenes and drawn out some of the main ones especially the ones that involved dancing. That in its self would make the scene projections and transitions a lot less hurried. The two leads not signing didn't bother me, but the show could think about changing some more of the incorporated pre-recorded music to live vocals. Despite all this, at the end of the day, the show is about Baby and Johnny. Luckily Mueller and Pergande do them justice.

DIRTY DANCING is an extremely iconic film, so it makes sense to try to re-create the nostalgic factor through a careful incarnation of the film's magic. All of the iconic moments and lines that captured everyone's attention from the film are played out on stage. All of you DIRTY DANCING aficionados will leave thoroughly satisfied. The rest of you who were looking for something more substantial might leave feeling like it wasn't quite "The Time of You Life".

DIRTY DANCING is performed at THE HOBBY CENTER in the Sarofim Hall through November 23. For tickets and more information please visit http://www.thehobbycenter.org.

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy

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