Review: ‘Dirty Dancing’ a messy, cheesy mambo down memory lane

Never underestimate the power of nostalgia. That yearning for a sentimental throwback comes in double handy with the musical Dirty Dancing, the tour of which opened Tuesday at Bass Hall for a run that goes until Sunday.

The movie, set in 1963 and written by Eleanor Bergstein (who has adapted it for the stage), was already big on the remember-when factor for anyone who remembered the 1960s and its music. Judging from Tuesday’s audience, nostalgia for the hit 1987 Patrick Swayze-Jennifer Grey film — especially that final dance scene with “the lift” — strikes with a whole new crowd, mainly women who might have been younger than 20 when it came out.

The show itself is a mess, albeit an oddly enjoyable one.

It has toured the world steadily since 2004, including a five-year sit-down in London’s West End — and the “woos!” in the audience during the aforementioned dance move explain why.

One word: Nostalgia.

As a piece of musical theater, Dirty Dancing is a strange hybrid — not a traditional book musical, and not quite a jukebox show. As a dance musical, it’s in some ways closer to the Tony-winning Contact than, say, a dance-heavy musical like An American in Paris. (Choreography is by Michele Lynch after the original choreography by Kate Champion; the show is directed by James Powell.)

It uses the songs from the movie, most of which were 1960s, but also the new songs that became hits with the movie soundtrack, including (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life and Hungry Eyes. Unlike most musicals, they are not sung by the cast as an integrated part of the narrative. The former is handled by two specialty singers, Doug Carpenter and Jennlee Shallow (they each play satellite characters) as the final dance scene plays out.

Another scene, in which Carpenter beautifully sings In the Still of the Night (I’ll Remember) as we see various couples being lovey-dovey, could be cut without a loss — except that it’s the vocal highlight.

As for Hungry Eyes, it’s played in its original recorded form as sung by Eric Carmen while the leads, idealistic Frances “Baby” Houseman (spunky Gillian Abbott, in the show’s best performance) and bad-boy Johnny Castle (Samuel Pergande, in the role that made Swayze famous) rehearse their big number.

The ballet-inspired and Broadway/jazz dance is pretty great throughout the show. Pergande was an American Ballet Theater and Joffrey Ballet dancer, and while his acting is somewhat wooden, there’s no questioning his dance talent. Another Joffrey alum, the exquisite Jenny Winton, plays Penny, whose unwanted pregnancy sets the plot in motion; she has legs that Cyd Charisse might envy.

A lot of the dancing is a ballroom mishmash of mambo, cha-cha, rumba and other styles that was known as “dirty dancing” in the ’50s and ’60s, and although it looks nicely done to those who don’t know any better, my guest at the show, a former ballroom instructor, balked at the ballroom technique.

Mark Elliot Wilson gives a terrific performance as Baby’s doctor father; as in the movie, Baby is the heart of the story.

The politics of the movie — it’s set in 1963, so civil rights and abortion are some of the hot topics — are amped up quite a bit in the musical. There’s even a sly Ayn Rand rib. It doesn’t quite strike the right balance, though, between social commentary and what is essentially a love story.

It doesn’t help that the scenic design (by Stephen Brimson Lewis) relies heavily on digital projections, and Bobby Aitken’s sound design (do we really need effects for a car emergency brake, slamming car doors and glass shattering?) contributes to the cheesy overkill.

But, this is theater, and it requires audience members to use their imagination. Even when it’s overwhelmed by nostalgia.

The dancing — it is part of the title, after all — is what you’ll remember most about the show. That might be enough.

This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Review: ‘Dirty Dancing’ a messy, cheesy mambo down memory lane."