'Dirty Dancing' steps up to the stage

Oh, Baby.

It's been years since I've watched "Dirty Dancing," the 1987 hit film with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. But seeing the stage production - which makes its U.S. premiere here at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago - feels a bit like getting reacquainted with old friends, while making a few sexy new ones.

Let's be clear: Anyone expecting a traditional musical in which lovers sing tenderly to one another and lyrics are seen as dialogue set to music might be a little put off by "Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story on Stage." Yes, there's music, but it's mainly applied as a film soundtrack would be with only a few minor characters supplying vocals, and some of those drowned out by the orchestra.

The songs serve to evoke the era - 1963 in the Catskills - and to provide the musical backdrop for the explosive dance scenes. And those are spectacular.

In the summer of '63, idealistic young "Baby" Houseman (Amanda Leigh Cobb) arrives for a vacation at Kellerman's resort in the Catskills with her parents and sister. Her sheltered world is turned upside-down when she gets involved with the resort's dancers, helping Penny (the exquisite Britta Lazenga) pay for an illegal abortion and falling in love with Johnny (Australian dancer Josef Brown).

Lazenga and Brown sizzle in each of their many dance scenes. Both are extraordinary dancers, and their chemistry goes a long way toward explaining how the story got its name. You'll fall for both of them - and not just because of Lazenga's startlingly long legs or Brown's perfectly sculpted arms and abs.

Cobb - like Baby herself - grows more slowly into her role. She appropriately holds back at first, but then fills out the part beautifully. John Bolger, as her doctor dad, also makes an impression.

Recreating the bustling resort as well as the surrounding woods and lake must have posed quite a challenge to director James Powell and set designer Stephen Brimson Lewis. They do so with an intriguing mix of photography, film, screens, rising stages and more. With careful attention to sound effects and lighting, it mostly works - whether you're experiencing the roar of a summer storm or the rustic feel of a campfire. Some scenes, like Johnny and Baby dancing in a meadow recreated over a screen, seem a lot more forced.

Still, the story transports us to another place and time, an era when sack races and charades would have been enough to keep vacationing kids happy. The story wears a bit thin at times, but the movie's fans won't mind and there's plenty of class conflict mixed in. The handsome waiters, recruited for the summer jobs from Harvard and Yale, are encouraged to romance the guests. Dancers like Johnny get a different message with regard to mingling: "No conversation and keep your hands off."

Lucky for us, they don't listen. The dancers are what bring Kellerman's - and "Dirty Dancing" - to life.