At the Boston Opera House, "Dirty Dancing" fans are greeted by an empty stage that sharply contrasts with the ornate venue's red plush seats and intricate gold-laced columns. But as pairs of dancers flood the stage, a resort in the Catskill Mountains during the summer of 1963 suddenly comes to life.
Writer Eleanor Bergstein, who also penned the 1987 movie version of "Dirty Dancing," envisioned a theater performance that incorporated the audience more fully into a summer at Kellerman's Resort than the film does. Giant LED screens and surround sound allow her to bring her dream to life. Though at first the LED screens flanking the sides and back of the stage seem to push the production too far into the bounds of film, they are clearly an integral part of the performance, allowing the audience to more fully share in the characters' onstage experiences.
The play's scenery moves with the cast, creating fluidity in the performance that simulates a camera following the story's action. Pieces of the stage rise up and revolve to whisk the Housemans from dinner at the resort's white linen tables to a dance floor covered with people in black suits and pastel gowns. The sky changes from a mellow blue in the morning to the sharp pinks of sunset. The theater's surround sound system completes the effect as crickets gently hum in the background during nightfall.
When Johnny Castle (played by Josef Brown) drives Frances "Baby" Houseman (Amanda Leigh Cobb) out to the forest to practice dance lifts, trees on the LED screens whiz past shakily, giving the illusion of driving. The film's famous river scene is even recreated as a thin screen and long, blue pieces of fabric representing water are placed across the stage and surround sound delivers a timely splash.
The screens allow for rapid scene changes without disorienting the audience. The musical incorporates 55 songs and 73 different scenes. Combined with the 39 actors, Baby's 21 costume changes and live singing, the performance truly does transport audiences to a different world.
Other elements contribute to the audience's involvement as well. For example, when Dr. Jake Houseman (John Bolger) plays golf, a net separates the stage from the audience allowing the doctor to drive golf balls towards the spectators without causing injury. During the end of the summer performance at Kellerman's, glowing disco balls lower over the audience members, allowing them to feel like they are part of the show.
"Dirty Dancing: The Musical" follows the plot of the movie closely. It incorporates famous images such as Baby gripping a watermelon and standing stunned in the midst of the dancing staffers, Lisa Houseman (Katlyn Carlson) dressed in a bikini and Hawaiian skirt stiltedly singing a hula and Castle stroking Houseman's body to her uncontrollable giggles. At many points in the play, the audience, clearly filled with fans of the movie, stifled excitement as they got caught up in the nostalgia of 1960s simplicity and hit songs such as "Hungry Eyes" and "(I've Had) The Time of My Life."
From a distance, Cobb could be Jennifer Grey's twin, especially as she practices dance moves in her denim cut-offs. Brown's tight black t-shirt and muscled arms allow the audience to forget his wavering Australian accent as he dances and moves with all of the confidence of a young Patrick Swayze.
The musical also incorporates new themes of inequality into the 1963 summer story. At a resort campfire, Max Kellerman (Jonathan Epstein) passes around a basket, asking the guests for change to help some of the waiters travel to the south to become Freedom Riders. The new incorporation is subtle, but lends a certain irony to the show: The waiters ignore the inequalities among the staff, but are willing to risk their lives to fight for civil rights in the south.
The story of "Dirty Dancing" is familiar, as are the characters, clothes and music. The musical's success, then, is not its ability to tell a new narrative, but in its ability to bring a familiar narrative more fully to life.
Tickets are available through the Boston Student Rush Program, which allows students to buy one ticket (with a school ID) one hour prior to the performance for $25.00 at the theater box office. Students can find more information online at www.broadwayacrossamerica.com.
