An Evening of Dirty Dancing at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre Review
An Evening of Dirty Dancing
The Tribute Show
Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury
16 June 2015
Reviewed by Laura Mentiply
Being a girl that grew up watching Dirty Dancing umpteen times, singing and doing the dance moves to the songs, I was really looking forward to seeing this show at the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury. The night promised to be a homage to the greatest movie soundtrack of all time, and it sure did.
The Waterside Theatre is celebrating 5 years since being opened and has a range of shows throughout the year. There are plenty of council carparks around, which only cost £1 for the evening charge (though I hear this is going up in September 2015). Staff were friendly, however I tried to get a drink before the show started and waiting about 10 minutes at the bar and never got served as the staff would always pick someone else to serve. In end I gave up as there was a call saying the show would start in 3 minutes. In the interval there was more staff on the bar and I got served easier.
I was not sure what to expect from this show but was pleasantly surprised. There is no storyline following the scrip of the film, it simply is just celebrating the songs with the cast singing and dancing. Straightaway they jump in with big classics like Big Girls and Be My Baby. At first it felt a bit cheesy watching the couples grinding away and the main singer thrusting his hips back and forth at the crowd which laughed, but I couldn’t tell if it was meant to be funny. After a few more songs I felt the cast was having fun with what they were doing which then bounced off into the audience, encouraging arm swaying and singing along. There was even a section where they pulled up willing members up on stage and also got everyone standing to do a bit of a dance class with the person you were sat next too. There is a section of the show where there were songs that are not from the film, but the dancing made up for this. My favourite part of the show was where one dancer came out to sing La Bamba pretending to be a Mexican. This brought a comical aspect to the show got the crowd laughing adding to the atmosphere. The show comes together for the classic Time of My Life. Though the dancing was different to the chorography to the film, there was elements running throughout and they made it into their own dance. Everyone was off their seats joining in. They were also joined on stage by local children’s dance group Spotlight Musical Theatre School which is nice that this show is supporting the new generation of performers.
All in all, the show was a laugh to have on a girly night (though there were a few men in the audience too). Cheesy in parts which was welcomed. It made me leave with a cha cha cha step in my feet and also wanting to ring up my girls to arrange a date to watch the film.
I give this show 4 out of 5 stars.
Rating: 4/5
An Evening of Dirty Dancing – The Tribute Show is currently on a national around the UK. For more information, to find your nearest venue or to book tickets visit www.aneveningofdirtydancing.com.
For upcoming shows at the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury visit www.atgtickets.com/aylesbury.
Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Exchange Street, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP20 1UG
