Dirty Dancing looks set to become the biggest selling show of all time at Leeds Grand Theatre. The worldwide phenomenon has already smashed the £1.5 million mark in ticket sales, and the producers have just announced an extra mid-week matinee performance on Wednesday 13th June due to overwhelming demand for tickets.
I have seen many large productions in the past but none came close to being as amazing as Dirty Dancing.
Written by Eleanor Bergstein, the film’s creator and scriptwriter, the musical combines all the much-loved characters, additional songs, new choreography and dance scenes by Kate Champion and amazing video-projected scenery.
The show combined Dance, story and music in a new way
obviously no one can fill Patrick Swayze’s shoes but Paul-Michael Jones who plays “Johnny” has you hooked right from the start with his amazing stage presence and that trade mark Patrick Swayze swagger!
The amazing projected scenery and sound make you feel as if you are right there with the cast watching their lives story unfold in front of you.
The amazing dancers and singers swing right in to action with some “Dirty Dancing” you didn’t know who to watch as the dancers filled the stage dancing with moves that didn’t even look possible and with moves that looked more impressive than some of the dancing from the original film.
Emily Holt plays a very impressive “baby” and has the trade mark curls and even facial features that match Jennifer Grey to a tee, the costume department have really gone to town and paid such great attention to detail to make the costumes as realistic to the film as possible.
The stunning Charlotte Gooch plays “Penny” who amazed me with her dancing and acting ability and again looks very similar to the actress In the Dirty Dancing film.
I was surprised that even though this film has emotion and excitement it also had a great deal of comedy mostly from Emilia Williams who plays Lisa Houseman Baby’s sister. I still laugh now thinking about her hula singing and dancing scene.
This production ticks every box for me Paul Michael Jones (Johnny) captivated the audience with just the right amount of arrogance and torment that the character Johnny showed in the film at the same time the softer side of Johnny was played perfectly I was enthralled all the way through and could easily watch it all over again especially hearing Johnny saying “Nobody puts Baby In the corner” which had the audience in uproar as did the last dance and of course that lift at Kellerman’s last night of the season show. The cast received a truly deserved standing ovation at the end of the show and I clapped until my hands went numb.
No comments:
Post a Comment