Review-Dirty Dancing-Lunchbox Productions
21-4-13
By: Meaghan McGurgan
Dirty Dancing holds a special place in my heart as a film. It's the first movie that I ever saw with an abortion in it. Some people are obsessed with this movie. They know all the lines, they memorize the choreography, they know all the words to the music. I saw people at the show last night carrying watermelons and wearing 60's clothes in homage to the piece. The audience was ready to see the show and have a great time!
The show is fun, fast paced, has high production values and all the moments in the movie you are sure to love. They used a turntable in the set to allow for seamless scene changes. If you're a fan of the movie, you'll love the live version. All the famous lines are there from Baby in a corner to the I carried a watermelon?! But I had to wonder if maybe they were sticking too close to the movie? Actors Byrony Whitfield and Gareth Bailey seemed to be playing Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze rather than making Baby and Johnny their own. Although, Whitfield and Bailey are great dancers who executed the choreography beautifully; I was bit disappointed that 80% of the choreography seemed to be ripped directly from the movie.
Great movie/musicals take something that's already wonderful and elevate it to a fantastic experience that you can only see on stage. With Dirty Dancing I was impressed with the production values and the talent of the cast, but by intermission there was nothing differentiating the stage version from the DVD that I can buy at HMV for 149hkd. I'm not saying the show is bad; it's actually quite good. It's entertaining and fun but it wasn't the most spectacular musical I've ever seen.
I enjoyed Act 2 of the show a lot more than the first. They added some extra back story to the parents arc and added some brilliant transitions to the show using camp games, like leap frog and sack races. These little extra bits really helped the show but do make it a bit long. I'd say the show runs about 2 and 1/2 hours with intermission. Spectacular performances to look out for are Mila De Biaggi as Penny. Her choices for the character were on point and she was very sexy. The singers and dancers in the chorus also deserve a shout out. I especially loved Sebe Leotela who sang "We Shall Overcome" in Act 1. She's stunningly beautiful and a very talented singer.
This show has a digital set design, which most of the readers know I hate. I can understand why the set designer chose this method of design for a tour, as the show has about 20 different locations in it, but some of the graphics looked bad. The moment where she's learning the lifts was dreadful from a design perspective. So tacky... To simply put a picture of water or grass up and have them perform in it isn't the style of theatre I enjoy. The same effect could have been done with lights, sound effects and fabric and I would have appreciated it more. Rather than rely on cheesy graphics, I wish the set designer would have made more theatrical design choices.
With ticket prices that go up to 995hkd, it's safe to say that I would recommend the cheap seats for this production over the pricey ones. I feel you would get just as good of a show experience (possibly better) up in the balcony. It's a big, stage musical and plays well to the cheap seats. If there aren't any tickets left in the 395-595 range, then skip it and just get the DVD. It's pretty much the same thing and you'll save yourself a chunk of change.
Dirty Dancing is playing at The Grand Cultural Center through May 12th. For more information, click here.
Comments
Alice
Another great review Meaghan!
21 April 2013Ming
I saw it last night with my Mum. It was her first musical EVER! We had a really good time at the show but I completely agree with you that it's just like the movie. My mum had never see Dirty Dancing so she loved it so muchj. I know movie so I thought it was good but the same. Johnny so handsome! Follow you on twitter now.
22 April 2013Daniel Gleason
It's a great show in the balcony! Good fun, I recommend it.
25 April 2013