BWW Blog: Jon Drake of DIRTY DANCING National Tour - Versatility

Hi guys! Last time we spoke I was headed into Johnny rehearsals, but due to some unforeseen circumstances I will be playing the 80 year old Mr. Schumacher first instead of the leading heartthrob for a few performances. This week, I guess versatility is a must! So to bone up on my more mature character, I've gone straight to our resident "old guys". First, I went to talk to Gary Lynch. This is his second time on tour with Dirty Dancing. I asked him how this show compares to the other US tour and he said it is sharper and more refined. "They've taken out a lot of extraneous material and made it more streamlined." Gary also originally played Moe, my role in the show. He told me how the character had a few more scenes, a song, and a lot more lines, but I sure am glad I don't have to do all that extra work with the insane amount of dancing and understudying I have to do in the show!

Next, I went to talk to Mark Elliot Wilson. He plays Baby's father, Jake, in the show. He's a cool guy and I thought he might have some insight on how a young guy can play an older character. Mark told me rule number one: don't try to act old, just try to find yourself in whatever role you're performing. Sound advice, but I think I have a long way to stretch playing a convincing geriatric. However, with all the extra rehearsals and shows every night, my body is feeling a lot older than normal. Plus, I have found some new grey hairs. Guess we won't be needing that wig... To let you know that it's not all work, I wanted to tell you about our recent day off. A group of our actors, calling themselves "Ministry of Good Times" organized a pub crawl for the entire cast! They got us a bus and took us to several locals all over the city to socialize and kickback. I didn't get to stay for the whole night, but from the pictures I've seen it looked like quite a time! If you wondered how strict our Dirty Dancing Diet is, I've left a fews pics for you to check out! Clearly, we don't eat pizza. Thanks for checking out the blog and we'll see you next week! Until then, remember "nobody puts Baby in a corner!"