Dirty Dancing at the New Alexandra Theatre Birmingham Review

Reviewed by Emma Legge

Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage is a show that has been on my bucket list of stage shows for a long long time having been THAT girl who watched the film time and time again and I’m not ashamed to admit it, I had a life size poster of Patrick Swayze on my bedroom door! Yet I will admit to feeling a bit concerned about actually seeing the show, what if it wasn’t as good as my teen-hood favourite film? What if they ruined THAT famous lake scene, or worse, left it out? What if they didn’t say THAT famous last scene line? What if they ruined MY Dirty Dancing?

Walking into the theatre and being greeted with some of the theatre staff in watermelon costumes made me realise that no detail from the film had been forgotten! The scene starts with Frances Houseman, aka ‘Baby’ remembering THAT summer at Kellerman’s holiday resort, the curtain lifts and you get your first glimpse of the stage, a view of the club house and holiday buildings. Early on, the set changes along with the scenes and both myself and my companion both said ‘wow’ when we were introduced to how magnificently the set changes and revolves right there on stage. I couldn’t help but spend a large part of the show, looking at all the tiny details of the set and how it blends into the next scene and feel that the set designers really do need a huge shout out – it was by far, the best set design I’ve ever seen in a show. And that brings us to THAT lake scene, now I’m not going to give anything away (you really must go see it for yourselves) but it most definitely didn’t disappoint this particular fan. My heart was in my mouth as Baby practices those lifts and I really was quite stunned by how cleverly you are transported into the middle of a mountainous lake. Similarly, the rain, lightening, night sky and road scenes are all portrayed with the same design style and talent and certainly help make this into the incredible stage show that it is.

All the famous songs from the film are played, some with the accompaniment of Kellerman’s band live on stage and I noticed many of us toe tapping along to our favourites. The dancing is fantastic but particularly between ‘Johnny Castle (Robert Colvin)’ and ‘Penny Johnson’ with so much of the style of dancing from the film performed brilliantly on stage. The casting is superb with the family relationship between the Houseman’s so believable and the chemistry between Johnny and Baby very evident and believable. The ‘saucy’ bits are not shied away from at all and were greeted with whoops and wolf whistles from an appreciative audience, particular after a glimpse of Johnny’s bare bottom!

This was a performance that flowed so well that it was the final scene in no time at all and there was an evident expectation going into it from the whole audience. There’s suddenly a loud noise, an entrance from the rear of the theatre by Johnny who marches on to stage and delivers THAT famous line… cue hundreds of giggling, whooping and cheering women!

This show did not disappoint one bit, in fact, quite the opposite, I no longer want to simply watch the film on a loop, I want to see this show time and time again! There’s so much to see, to appreciate, that I think you could see it a few times and still notice new things, particularly with the cleverly evolving set.

If you love stage shows, musicals, Dirty Dancing or just a fantastic feel good night out then this is the show for you.

We give this show 5 out of 5 simply because we can’t rate it any higher!

Rating: 5/5

Tickets cost from £17.90 to £64.90 (plus £4 transaction fee).

Dirty Dancing is at the New Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham from 29 May to 3 June 2017, for more information or to book tickets visit www.atgtickets.com/birmingham or call the box office on 0844 871 3011.

New Alexandra Theatre, Suffolk Queensway, Birmingham, West Midlands, B5 4DS