Dirty Dancing The Movie in Concert – Eventim Apollo

Picture: Zdenko Hanout

Dirty Dancing The Movie in Concert was reviewed at the Eventim Apollo, London and continues touring until 26 May 2022.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

On paper, it’s not easy to creatively refresh and re-invent even a classic film that’s 35 years old and at the same time attract a new audience and fill a venue the size of Hammersmith’s Eventim Apollo. The big advantage that the production team have here is that Dirty Dancing – written by Eleanor Bergstein, directed by Emile Ardolino – has always had, and perhaps always will have a hugely loyal, passionate and enduring fan base and waiting for the doors to open it was clear those fans queuing spanned a good few generations.

Released in 1987, the soundtrack generated two multi-platinum albums and multiple singles, including the Academy Award-winning Best Original Song ‘(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life’. Dirty Dancing in Concert is set to play 12 cities within a pretty short timescale and a rapturous, excitable and mostly female audience probably awaits at each of them – the first appearance of heartthrob, biker jacket-wearing Patrick Swayze in the lead role of Johnny Castle being all that’s needed to raise the volume and general excitement.

Then, of course, he takes his top off and the roof almost comes off the Eventim as the sexual frisson between him and Jennifer Grey as Baby Houseman increases. Clearly, most of Johnny’s T-shirts are in the wash as he spends much of the time topless, his tangoing muscled torso bringing delight to countless female admirers 35 years later in downtown Hammersmith – who’d have thought.

Produced by Karl Sydow, with significant creative input from GEA Live designs and Lionsgate, this complete screening of the digitally re-mastered film as the backdrop and a band and singers performing the songs live, in sync with the film on stage, works pretty well. There are times when the dialogue is drowned out during some numbers, but if they missed a few lines here and there, no one in the audience seemed worried – maybe one iconic line apart.

Creatively, this production does though feel a slightly off-kilter hybrid, blending live music and a screen classic. Certainly at the start, the audience, after the initial excitement died down, looked uncertain whether to go wild in the aisles or just sit down, push back and enjoy the film. Presenting this show at exactly the right venues will be key to the tour’s success – there’s even an open invite to stay at the end and carry on partying, singing and dancing along to the live band as they reprise a few of the film’s classic numbers. Not least ‘She’s Like the Wind,’ (co-written and sung by Swayze in the movie) and covered superbly here.

For any fans of Dirty Dancing – and there’s clearly a huge number of all ages out there – this is a gloriously self-indulgent win win scenario. A live band and the film in full, what’s not to like? For my money, as fun as it was, I’d rather dumb down creatively and go for a good old basic sing-a-long screening without the live musicians and vocalists, such events allowing for greater freedom of self expression, terrible singing and assorted antics. For the sake of common decency, I’d probably keep my top on though – those 35 years haven’t been kind to everyone.

Derek Smith