Dirty Dancing age rating?

flea72

seeing as the film is rated 15 and the stage show PG, can anyone tell me whether its suitable to take an 8yr old to?

i wouldnt let her watch the film, due to the age guide, but ive always found PG ratings a bit vague, as unless i go to see the show beforehand, ive no idea on how graphic it is.

F

llh189

Hi,

Have seen the stage play and I wouldn't take my 11 god-daughter to see it, I had a great time but a lot of the content is quite adult - rather like the film.

My god-daughter though is quite young in attitude (obviously a good thing) but I feel would need another two / three years to be ready to see the production.

HTH

Spendless

Hi, I've seen the stage show and I'd say no (and I only use ratings as a rough guide rather than a 'set in stone' rule). It is 'raunchy' especially the bit that ends the 1st half - far more so than the film (without wanting to explain too much that would spoil it for you). I'd forgotten till I saw the stage show that quite a bit of the story line is about Penny being pregnant and her botched abortion. (so whether you'd think that suitable for a 8yo don''t know). When I went (Sat matinee) there were no younger people watching at all. Sporry I've changed my post after re-reading I really thought when I saw it that the stage show was 15 rating, I must have been wrong, that really surprises me, cos I thought stage was far more 'adult' than the film.

miss_independent

I first saw Dirty Dancing (the film) aged 3 but my mum thought I was ill and asleep on the sofa lol! Seeing it again aged 8 (the older girls at my dance school were always talking about it), my mum kept changing channels during the sex scenes but still, it has been one of my favourite films since then!

The stage show is, in alot of ways much tamer than the film. There is no nudity, but there are adult themes such as Penny's abortion which Baby funds and so it is central to the story line which may lead to her asking questions or it could go over her head. The dancing is dirty obviously lol but I think it is not quite as in your face as you can choose where to look (i.e you have twenty dancers in front of you rather than having a camera zooming in on the two or three raunchiest couples in the film). At that age, alot of things do go over their head but I would be prepared that you may feel you want to explain some things after. I can't remember about bad language but the script is pretty much identical to the film.

TBH, in my opinion the biggest thing you have to worry about is that she might want to re-enact "The Lift" in the playground! I think there is much worse on the internet and television that she could accidentally see at a friends house for example. I would have loved to have seen the show at 8 and in some ways I saw shows with a lot worse content at a similar age (Miss Saigon) and I wouldn't say it damaged me in anyway. I was more interested in the dancing, music and costumes!

jayss

The stage show isnt very good, she'd probably be fine as I always seem to be saying the language is not bad like billy elliot, but there are much better more suitable shows.