Nearly 2,000 people gave “Dirty Dancing” a standing ovation at Centennial Hall on Tuesday.
Go figure.
The musical has stilted dialogue, forced scenarios and little rhythm. The acting is at times abysmal, the dancing and singing uneven, the use of slides to evoke the mountains or cabins or a lake just plain cheesy. The production was soulless.
It did not deserve a standing ovation — tepid applause, at best.
Broadway in Tucson brought the production here; if it wasn’t bringing in “Kinky Boots” later this season, we would have a hard time ever forgiving them.
“Dirty Dancing” is based on the 1987 movie of the same name. The flick, about Baby and Johnny and love and class differences and bucking the ’rents was packed with schmaltz, sex appeal and good rock ’n’ roll. It was loads of fun.
The musical has none of those. Oh, sure, the songs of the era of the story — 1963 — were there, but they lacked the spirit, the fever, that gave the tunes such life originally.
Playwright Eleanor Bergstein wrote both the movie and the play. She gave the stage version more social and political context — everyone gathered around a radio to listen to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and a couple of young men were heading to Mississippi to be Freedom Riders. Those elements should speak to us today, as racism is on the rise and civil rights are threatened. Instead, they felt forced in this production. Even when a bit of “We Shall Overcome” was sung — a song that can stir great emotion — there was nothing.
Artistically, the musical version of “Dirty Dancing” is a flop. Which makes that standing O very perplexing.
On the other hand, this movie was a big hit. It was a marker for many who grew up in the era. And it was clear much of the audience on this night knew it — they cheered for lines lifted from the movie, they sighed audibly when songs that defined the film — such as “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” — were sung.
But, really, the movie does it much better than this. A more satisfying — and less expensive — way to relive it all would be to watch the flick again.
