How much of the film "Dirty Dancing" can you cram onto a theatrical stage? Quite a lot, thanks to digital projections, sound effects and a few crude sets — including a huge log.

The national tour that cruised into the Orpheum Theatre is a decidedly cheap technical effort, but few in the Wednesday night audience likely cared. They were there to squeal at the backlit silhouettes, floor to ceiling, of perfectly extended legs and hot dancer bodies pressed against each other. And when Johnny Castle stormed into the ballroom of Kellerman's resort and sneered, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner!" — well, how can you resist that sublimely cheesy moment of bravado?

You need to wait all night for that classic line from Eleanor Bergstein's 1987 film, but it does make you chuckle and puzzle about this flimsy entertainment's appeal.

Bergstein's stage adaptation — directed by James Powell — keeps the volume high on early-'60s (pre-Beatles) nostalgia, social class divisions, idealism and the classic trope of an innocent girl drawn like a moth to the hot flame of a bad boy. "Dirty Dancing" tickles those memories of summer romance. You needn't squint too hard to catch a glimpse of "Grease" in the shadows — but with a social conscience.

Jillian Mueller, wide-eyed and moppet-tressed, plays Frances "Baby" Houseman, who arrives at a Catskills resort with her family in the summer of 1963. Idealistic and headed for the Peace Corps, Baby wanders the grounds and discovers the staff cabins, where Samuel Pergande's Johnny presides over sweaty after-hours entertainment. He is tall, dark, handsome and the kingpin of the resort's dance instructors. Poor boy, women throw themselves at him, and what's he to do?

When his partner, Penny (Jenny Winton) can't make an important gig, who volunteers — even learning the dancer's sense of balance by walking on a wet log over a creek? Hate to spoil the surprise, but it's Baby.

This all happens in the first act, which skips along quite well. Pergande and Winton whirl through Kate Champion's original choreography (re-created by Michele Lynch) and singers Jennlee Shallow and Doug Carpenter provide impressive vocal firepower.

The second half, though, wilts like a daisy in the hot summer sun. The drama in the Houseman family is trite and maudlin. Mark Elliott Wilson is a bit wooden as Jake Houseman, Baby's dad, and Emily Rice as sister Lisa Houseman lands the awkward assignment of stumbling through a song and dance for the resort's talent show. Subplots limp along with little effect. The rich guests distrust the poor resort staff and vice versa until Johnny and Baby bridge the gap.

All really thin stuff. It strikes us that an awareness and appreciation (for whatever reason) of the film will determine whether you have the time of your life at "Dirty Dancing" on stage.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299