Dirty Dancing pre-Broadway live performance

I have to be careful with this one, and judge it for what it is, and not for what I wish it were. I had a clever opening all written in my head when I planned to have this entry appear on Thanksgiving Day. But that would have been unfair, too, for Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage has a lot going for it and is definitely not a turkey.

The first thing to clarify is right in the title: this is THE classic story. It's not a version of the story. It's not an adaptation of the story. It's not a musicalization of the story. It's THE story. If you know the film, you know this show--down to every scene, every line of dialogue, every gesture, every tracking shot, every location, every note of underscoring. How is that possible, I hear you asking.

Well, this show may go down in history as the most technologically advanced show in Broadway history. Granted, I don't have a lot to judge it against in that regard, but this feels like Broadway 2.0.

To start with the stage mechanics: there is a turntable which lifts up and splits in two, and rotating tracks around the turntable, and lift sections of the stage around the rotating tracks, and pop up doors. To continue with the lighting effects: there are programmable lights with changing patterns, there are scrim projections and projections on proscenium screens and a giant curved-screen television, and there are FOUR mirrored disco balls. To finish with the set pieces: there are at least two bedroom scenes that slide out, numerous dining tables and chairs, and a car that we see from both the front and back and which pivots during one scene.

With all of that stage equipment, I was surprised there was still room for 30 performers. And room for them to dance. Fortunately, the dancing is very good, particularly by Josef Brown as Johnny Castle and Britta Lazenga as Penny Johnson. Both are performers with a lot of legit dance credits--you know, ballet and stuff. Ms. Lazenga danced for seven seasons with the Joffrey Ballet, and given that her legs seem about as long as the whole show, I bet she was good. What was on display in this show certainly was good.

The standout actor in the bunch was Amanda Leigh Cobb as Frances "Baby" Houseman. Ms. Cobb is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and includes in her bio The Coast of Utopia on Broadway and significant regional company credits. That kind of breeding shows; while keeping the character of Baby distinctly her own, Ms. Cobb manages to hit all the familiar marks that fans of the film will expect. And then she gets lifted into the familiar pose that inhabits the poster for this show.

I'll be interested to see this show's reception when it opens in New York, if it opens in New York. It leaves Chicago in January and goes to Boston for a month.

Dirty Dancing: the Classic Story on Stage
Music is all of the era
Lyrics are the original song lyrics
Book by Eleanor Bergstein from her screenplay for the 1987 film
Live at the Cadillac Palace Theater in Chicago until January 17, then to the Boston Opera House until March 15, 2009
Cast: Josef Brown, Amanda Leigh Cobb, Britta Lazenda, John Bolger