Dirty Dancing, The Stage Production At Buxton Opera House Review

Reviewed by Nia Lock

The rescheduled 2020 tour of Dirty Dancing is running at 15 venues across the UK between August and December 2021.

Starting at Buxton Opera House, a stunningly gilded grade II listed theatre. We found the seats in the theatre to be very comfortable and we had a superb view of the stage. There were plenty of staff on hand to guide us through from box office to bar, to our seats and everyone was cheerful and friendly. There is touch free hand sanitiser placed usefully anywhere that you might stop to queue.

Dirty Dancing is an absolute classic, everyone remembers the 1987 film and they either love it or hate it. We’re firmly in the ‘love’ camp and we couldn’t wait to see it brought to life on stage. It follows the story of Baby taking a family holiday in 1963 and falling in love with Johnny, the holiday camp dance instructor. This is a love story with a few dark elements running through it. The dancing is the backbone of the film and this stage production does not disappoint, it was a feast for the eyes and we felt we could’ve watched it over again and still be enthralled by the dancing.

The sizzling chemistry between Johnny and Baby rivalled that of the on screen chemistry between Jennifer Grey & Patrick Swayze, this is a hard act to follow but Kira Malou, playing Baby, and Michael O’Reilly, playing Johnny absolutely smashed it.

The casting was sensational, we felt like we were watching the characters we know and love right from the beginning, no need to make any mental adjustments, they were exactly as we imagined. The costumes were a triumph, with so many changes I lost count, the whole cast looked exactly right in every scene. I am still thinking about some of those outfits hours later. The set was simple but brilliant and all set changes were executed so smoothly we barely saw them happening. Probably because we just could not take our eyes off the cast. Baby’s journey from being a gangly embarrassment on the dance floor to absolutely smashing it was expertly portrayed, it almost had me in tears to watch her finally dance it properly at the end.

The soundtrack is full of the incredible songs that framed our teenage years and were brilliantly performed in this production, really capturing the angst ridden feelings of first love. The notorious comedy moments from the film are all there, as well as a few extra laughs.

And so, two otherwise perfectly sensible women have spent the evening enraptured by the romance, the expectation, the lift! It’s all there. We loved every minute and it left us on an emotional high that had us buzzing all the way home.

Faultlessly sexy. It was everything we wanted it to be, and more.

Rating: 5/5

Tickets: £30-50

Dirty Dancing is in Buxton from Tuesday 31st August to Saturday 4th September. To book tickets visit https://buxtonoperahouse.org.uk/event/dirty-dancing or call the box office on 01298 72190

Buxton Opera House, Water Street, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6XN.