Dirty Dancing...a resounding meh

Well, I wish I could say that the 'Dirty Dancing: the Musical' was as fantastic as I was hoping it would be.

First, let me preface this by saying I love musicals. I mean, really love them. And I don't think there's a woman of my generation who doesn't have a soft spot for Dirty Dancing, even if they don't love it. I went to see the musical last night with my three theatre going friends, and all of us had a fairly vivid memory of our first viewing of the film. It was a birthday party, or a sleepover and 3 of the four of us remember rewinding scenes or even the whole film to watch it over and over again. So you definitely had 4 people who were predisposed to love the musical.

And really? It wasn't so good. It wasn't so much a musical as it was a reenactment of the movie onstage, with a mostly soundtrack backing of the action. And that's probably ok. In fact, it probably wouldn't work if they had scrapped the soundtrack that we all know so well and had new songs for Baby and Johnny to sing dialogue at each other. The three performers who actually sang some of the key songs in the production were very good, especially the final performance of "I've had the time of my life".


My biggest gripe with the production, no question, was that anytime there was a section of added dialogue or plot that wasn't in the movie it was jarring. That's not to say that they shouldn't have added to or changed the story, but if they were going to do it they needed to do a better job. The character of Baby's mom was given a trio of extra scenes with Baby, Jake (Baby's dad) and Penny (the knocked up dancer) which I think were supposed to give the character more depth or something, but she really didn't need to be more than the '60's mom' in order to drive the story. There was a whole added in storyline about racial equality that was an excuse for Baby and Johnny to have another argument to expand on their differences and to flash a picture of Martin Luther King on the screen (yes, you read that correctly) to which my only response was...Really?!? There was a bunch of added lines to stress the 'class' differences in the groups of people in the story...did they think we wouldn't get that?!?

My other issues were more minor. The actor playing Johnny Castle seemed to be a bit too pretty and polished (like a Disney prince come to life is how D put it). I think I had a different perspective on the inappropriateness of the relationship between the two seeing it fresh as a thirtysomething instead of a tween :-). There were a couple of moments that really weren't supposed to be funny that elicited laughter from the audience.

The good things? The set design was incredible...absolutely amazing to see how they managed to bring all the different locations to the stage. The log scene in the woods and lift practice in the water were among the moments that stood out. The final dance performance, kicked off with Johnny rushing to the stage from the back of the theatre, made you feel like you were living in the movie. The general nostalgic memories that kicked in with the opening bar on almost every song.


All that said, I know I'll end up seeing it again during it's run in Toronto (however long it lasts). As a musical it wouldn't make the top 20 list of productions I've seen, but as a night out with the girls involving some martinis and a chance to reminisce, it definitely delivers. We walked out of the theatre with plans to get together to watch the movie Saturday night.

But I really hope this isn't a sign as to how the rest of my top five are going to deliver.

Hey! It's November

Hello to the four of you who are breathlessly waiting for an account of what's going on in my life lately ;-)

I'm crazy surprised that it's almost the end of November. I'm not sure where most of 2007 really went. I mean, I was there and everything, but it seems to have been a bit of a whirlwind.

So, remember last month when I said I'd be heading to the cottage to rake a bunch of leaves and get further into the fall spirit? Yeah, not so much. My parents elected to head up there on a weekend when I had a wedding to go to so not only do I feel sad for missing out on the end of the season wrap up, but I feel incredibly guilty about leaving all the work for my parents. Do you think really nice Christmas gifts will make up for it??

I did get around to partaking in some Halloween festivities this year thanks to the encouragement of D, who elevates the enjoyment of the holiday to a whole new level. Her four costume tribute to Maria Von Trapp was inspired...fully augmented by the 7 carved Von Trapp children pumpkins. I also discovered that I have quite the talent for the shooter luge...who knew? :-)


I also managed to get around to my shopping trip to Buffalo with mom and sister-in-law which was fantastic. We were pretty much run off our feet at the end of the Longest Shopping Day Ever on Saturday but scored some fantastic deals and got a start on our Christmas shopping. I managed to make a couple of early Christmas gift purchases for myself with a snazzy new watch and purse. Isn't it pretty?? Shopping savings are definitely there to be had by crossing south of the 49th. First of all, the Canadian dollar being at basically par (which, I know, isn't quite as good as it was a few weeks ago) means that any brand is automatically going to be cheaper just because they haven't adjusted the 'list' price to account for the change in exchange. Coach purses that were $500 here were less than $400 there. But our biggest savings came from spending about 3 hours at Macy's. I had assumed the 'international savings card' 11% (who comes up with these numbers?) discount was only available at the Macy's in New York and Las Vegas, where they had visitors centres, but no, they had them right at the service desks at the Galleria. And then they had a 'sign up for a Macy's account and get an additional 20% purchases' thing going on. 31% off everything in the store?? Let me at it! We also stayed at a really cute hotel and managed to eat lunch at the Cheesecake Factory without an hour and a half wait for a table (here's a tip...ALWAYS check to see if there is seating available at the bar). Thanks to Vickie, the cross border expert, for the advice on the best border crossing spot, location for hotel and the Targets to avoid we had an absolutely no stress weekend. Well, except for the usual anxiety about getting back across the border ;-).

Otherwise I have been enjoying the fall television offerings (and am preparing myself for the ugly near future of a reality television bonanza for as long as the strike goes on). I'm *loving* the new Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Gossip Girl and Reaper. And really enjoying the returning Friday Night Lights (why aren't more people watching this show??), Heroes (for the most part), The Office, and House (for Hugh Laurie).

And now we're coming up on December and I should be getting in the mood for Christmas. Part of me is feeling too lazy to bother to get all the decorations out...which I know I'd regret since I love coming home to the twinkling lights on the tree once it's up. My mom's planning on visiting next weekend to help with the decorating and do some Christmas shopping so I really shouldn't complain about the work, but it's never stopped me before.

And now, the top five things I'm looking forward to in the coming weeks:

1. Dirty Dancing the musical
2. KT Tunstall
3. weekend visits with Shawna and the munchkin and my mom
4. Bon Jovi
5. The multitude of Christmas parties, gatherings and brunches filling up my calendar

Stay tuned :-)