“Dirty Dancing” Premieres at Portland’s Keller Auditorium

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Monday, December 29, 2014

Kemea Smith, GoLocalPDX Contributor

The 1987 hit film Dirty Dancing, is coming to the Keller Auditorium stage with more sexy dancing and fun music. 

“I began to think that what they (the audience) really wanted was to share more intensity in the event, to step through the screen and be there while the story was happening,” said Eleanor Bergstein, screenwriter of the film Dirty Dancing and book writer for the musical.  “And if that was true, then its natural form was the theatre – audiences watching live bodies dancing here and now in the present – on the log, on the bridge, on the dance floor and in the staff quarters at Kellerman’s.”

The Dirty Dancing-The Classic Story on Stage is set in the summer of 1963, with 17 year-old ‘Baby’ on vacation with her family. Mesmerized by the dance moves and music she discovers in the staffs quarters, Baby becomes enthralled in the scene as well as Johnny, the hot dance instructor. She soon becomes the leading lady on-stage and off. 

 The musical will feature all the hit songs like “Do You Love Me?”by The Contours and emotional finale song "(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life.”

The North American tour is directed by James Powell with Michele Lynch choreographing all the hot dance numbers based on the original choreography by Kate Champion. 

“We’re delighted to participate in the latest stage incarnation that will introduce Dirty Dancing to a whole new generation of fans,” said Lionsgate Television COO Sandra Stern. “We expect the stage play to prove yet again that nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

Dirty Dancing- The Classic Story on Stage gained praise and momentum after the Australia and New Zealand tour. Soon a new production in Hamburg, Germany broke records for achieving the highest advance in European history, in 2006.

The show has performed across the world in Holland, Cape Town, Johannesburg, and is now represented by a new UK tour.  

Dirty Dancing- The Classic Story on Stage, Keller Auditorium, SW 3rd & Clay, times vary, Tuesday January 13 to Sunday January 18, 2015. For more information click here. 

Homepage Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons (image cropped) 

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