“Please don’t take pictures,” cautions the announcer as the house lights go down “it’s 1963 and mobile phones haven’t been invented yet”. We are guided back to a summer in the early sixties: John F. Kennedy and the American dream are still alive, nobody in the States has yet heard of the Beatles and a soft-hearted, daddy’s girl, who is on vacation with her family in upstate New York, doesn’t mind being called Baby. No one in the auditorium could be unfamiliar with the story of Dirty Dancing even if, like me, they hadn’t seen the film. The innocent young girl falls for the ‘wrong type’ whilst trying to do ‘right thing’; she ends up lying to her father, who takes against her, but don’t worry it all ends happily. Sorry about the plot spoiler but you only need to watch a couple of episodes of Happy Days to get the gist of how these things work and they rarely depart from the orthodox themes. It’s a sanitised story of dancing, love and sexual awakening: there is no mention of contraception and the girls keep their underwear on in bed.

But let’s not quibble about the stereotypes and gender politics of the storyline, just look at the physiques on those dancers! And I’m not talking about Johnny Castle (not yet anyway). Carlie Milner, who plays Penny Johnson, demonstrates the skill and dedication it takes to be a professional dancer in shows like this. She has us gasping at her impressive moves in the opening scenes: she does a standing front split and manages to get her leg higher than most people could get their arm. Kate Eccles (Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman) proves that dancing badly takes just as much skill as dancing well (she accomplishes both with aplomb) and the rest of the ensemble are none too shabby neither. Each one of them performs to perfection even when they are in the background and one wonders why they don’t all have their own show on TV. Of course, the loudest cheers are for Johnny Castle, played by Lewis Griffiths. And not just when he’s dancing: the audience, mostly female it has to be said, whoops in delight and takes some time to settle after he removes his shirt in the bedroom scene. There is also standout singing from Sophie MacKay and Michael Kent.

We might wonder at anomalies such as how a complete amateur could learn a complicated dance routine in just a few days but that’s not the point of this chick-flick derived crowd-pleaser. Each move, act and glance from the players is flawless; the sets, sound and lighting are impeccable; the staging, direction and scene changes are smooth and efficient. Credit should go to choreographer Gillian Bruce, director Federico Bellone and the rest of the creative team for what is without doubt a slick, highly professional and enjoyable show.  ★★★★☆    Adrian Mantle   4th July 2017