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DIRTING DANCING Returning to Wolverhampton in 2016
By: Tyler Peterson Jan. 07, 2016
The classic story of Baby and Johnny, featuring the hit songs 'Hungry Eyes', 'Hey! Baby', 'Do You Love Me?' and the heart stopping '(I've Had) The Time Of My Life', will return next summer, following two blockbuster West End runs and two hit UK tours.
Full of passion and romance, heart-pounding music and sensationally sexy dancing, the record-breaking musical is even better than before in this all new production created by an innovative new creative team; directed by Federico Bellone, Artistic Director of Milan's Teatro Nazionale, choreographed by Gillian Bruce and with design re-imagined by top Italian set designer Roberto Cometti.
The production premiered in Milan in July 2015, subsequently packing out the 15,000 seat Roman Arena in Verona, and will play a season in Rome this autumn before embarking on a major Italian tour. To mark the tenth anniversary of the original stage show, a new Australian tour was launched last year, and to date has sold a record 416,000 tickets since October 2014.
After a series of dates in China, Belgium and Korea, the new UK production will open in August 2016 with casting to be announced.
Since its Australian debut in 2004, DIRTY DANCING - THE CLASSIC STORY ON STAGE, has become a worldwide phenomenon, with productions staged in New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore and throughout Europe, consistently breaking box office records. After sell-out seasons in Paris and Vienna the show continues to tour in France and German speaking territories. It's also currently wowing audiences in Italy, with each individual production using local French, German, and Italian speaking companies; the French tour alone has played to 500,000 people since it launched in January.
It's the summer of 1963, and 17 year- old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is about to learn some major lessons in life as well as a thing or two about dancing. On holiday in New York's Catskill Mountains with her older sister and parents, she shows little interest in the resort activities, and instead discovers her own entertainment when she stumbles across an all-night dance party at the staff quarters. Mesmerised by the raunchy dance moves and the pounding rhythms, Baby can't wait to be part of the scene, especially when she catches sight of Johnny Castle the resort dance instructor. Her life is about to change forever as she is thrown in at the deep end as Johnny's leading lady both on-stage and off, and two fiercely independent young spirits from different worlds come together in what will be the most challenging and triumphant summer of their lives.
DIRTY DANCING -THE CLASSIC STORY ON STAGE originally opened at London's Aldwych Theatre in 2006 with a record-breaking advance of £15 million, making it the fastest ever selling show in West End theatre history. The production became the longest running show in the history of the Aldwych Theatre and played to over 2 million people during its triumphant 5 year run.
The first ever UK tour of DIRTY DANCING - THE CLASSIC STORY ON STAGE, which launched in 2011, took an unprecedented £42,000,000 at theatres across the country. In 2013, the show returned to the West End and played at the Piccadilly Theatre in London until 23 February 2014, prior to launching a second UK and Ireland tour which enjoyed a successful three week run in Wolverhampton during September and October of 2014.
Produced by Karl Sydow, Joye Entertainment and Paul Elliott, in association with Lionsgate and Magic Hour Productions, and written by Eleanor Bergstein, script writer of the phenomenally successful 1987 film, the production features the much-loved characters and original dialogue from the iconic film, with exciting extra scenes added in.
Tickets for DIRTY DANCING - THE CLASSIC STORY ON STAGE go on sale exclusively to Friends Of The Grand on Monday 11 January and on public sale from Wednesday 13 January.
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