Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story on Stage

When Dirty Dancing hit the screens in 1987, I wasn’t allowed to see it. At 13 years of age, my parents deemed it too risque, and it wasn’t until it was released on VHS that I got to watch it at a friend’s house. I sat glued to the TV set, the coming of age story capturing my imagination and my heart. Patrick Swayze replaced John Travolta as the man of my dreams and I dreamed of a love story like Johnny and Baby’s.

In 2004 I saw Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage during it’s worldwide premiere season in Sydney. Kym Valentine played the gawky 17 year old Baby and her chemistry with Josef Brown as Johnny was tangible. The set was simple, the songs were magical, although somewhere along the line I had missed that this stage show was not a musical. I expected the leads to sing, and was disappointed when they didn’t. It tainted my view of the show for years to follow.

Recently I had the opportunity to see it again, 10 years after the original debut. Over the years the show has adapted and grown and so have I. Rather than lament the fact the leads don’t sing, I embraced the show for what it was – a nostalgic walk down memory lane and a new way to appreciate the original movie. I shared it with a good friend of the same “vintage” as me.

Kirby Burgess was brilliant as Baby, delivering most of the comic moments in the film. Watching her clumsily learn to dance was a highlight,  her true dancing ability masked by her over exaggerated steps. Her passion and enthusiasm is infectious, and she shone as the star of the show.

Kurt Phelan is clearly an accomplished dancer and does Swayze proud in the dance numbers, but I longed to see more chemistry between him Kirby. I missed seeing those vulnerable moments in Johnny that made Baby fall for him, which I guess is the hazard of a stage production vs the intimacy of a movie screen.



These moments of wishing for the movie were more than compensated by the “musical” additions to the stage show, particularly Mark Vincent singing “In The Still of The Night” as Billy.

There are new scenes not seen in the movie which add a new feel to an old favourite, but the story remains largely true to the film with scenes you know and love re-enacted live. The atmosphere in the theatre is electric.

Like the rest of the audience, we cheered when Johnny delivered his line "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" and when Baby masters the lift in the final dance. We thrilled at the memories of 1987, and the dream of meeting a dance instructor like Johnny on a family holiday. (I went to a caravan on the South Coast every Summer and I never once gave up hoping).

Overall, Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage is a lot of fun. If you are anything like me and have a soft spot for the movie it is definitely worth the ticket. The story is timeless, the music is uplifting and the time spent in 1963 makes me long for a simpler time (backyard abortions and fights for civil rights aside!).

Grab a girlfriend and go see it. You may just have “The Time Of Your Life” (of course I had to say it!). and then want to watch the movie again