Dirty Dancing - August 2013

I absolutely love the movie Dirty Dancing. It is one of my all time favourite movies. So I have been a bit dubious about going to see the stage adaptation since I heard about it a few years ago. I just didn't think it would translate well. So yesterday I plucked up the courage to go and see it along with my daughter Rachael and my friend Harriet.

I had not booked tickets in advance so we had to buy day seats. Unfortunately when we got there, they had sold out already, learning that I really need to arrive before the box office opens to have a chance of getting them. Luckily, there were still other cheap seats available, so we booked 3 seats at £24.50 each for the Grand Circle. I felt that was quite reasonable cost as it was only £4.50 more than the day seats cost themselves. On arrival back at Piccadilly Theatre, the box office spotted us and called us to change our seats as they were not originally together. We ended up being upgraded to the Royal Circle, sat together in seats we are pretty certain cost more than we paid and with a better view. 

The show itself was fantastic. For the most part, the original dialogue, music and choreography is kept with a few additional parts added for flow, costume changes etc. Some characters felt much more developed than within the movie. For example, Dr Jake and Majorie Houseman's relationship is explored a bit more, Neil Kellerman seems cornier, Lisa Houseman is much comedic and Mr Schumacher was far creepier! My only little moans is that I felt some of most dramatic lines were lost within the performance from how they were delivered in the movie. But otherwise I really enjoyed the show. When Johnny said that famous line "Nobody puts baby in the corner" the audience, or should I say females, went wild and that continued throughout the performance of the movie's most famous dance, especially when the lead couple performed that infamous lift! 

After the show, as always, we went to the stage door to meet the cast. Despite having attended the matinee performance, the majority of the main cast members came out at some point, even though one had to go inside to get two of them out for us! Each and every one of them were really nice to us, asking us what we thought of the show and thanking us for waiting!

I definitely recommend this show, whether or not you are a fan of the movie. The cast are extremely talented and done amazing job of taking on such iconic characters!

Cast Members met: Jill Winternitz (Baby), Paul-Michael Jones (Johnny), Charlotte Gooch (Penny), James Coombes (Dr Houseman), Stefan Menaul (Neil Kellerman), Wayne Smith (Billy), Emilia Williams (Lisa) and Callum Nicol (Robbie).