DIRTY DANCING: THE MUSICAL (Horne) - Film's 40th Anniversary tour stops on Broadway, 2027

Just in time for tourists. I will say - sadly, I think this is going to become the norm more and more.

What the hell. Sure 🤷‍♂️

I know this has been around the block quite a few times on tour. Is there an original score, or just songs from the movie, or both?

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Updated On: 10/6/26 at 10:45 AM

quizking101 said: "What the hell. Sure 🤷‍♂️

I know this has been around the block quite a few times on tour. Is there an original score, or just songs from the movie, or both?"

Updated On: 10/6/26 at 10:58 AM

From what I understand, it is a new creative team taking on the stage version that played London, Toronto, and played a US tour. So, new set, direction, etc. But same production where Johnny and Baby don't sing, but a male and female singer with the band do.

fashionguru_23 said: "From what I understand, it is a new creative team taking on the stage version that played London, Toronto, and played a US tour. So, new set, direction, etc. But same production where Johnny and Baby don't sing, but a male and female singer with the band do."

That is correct. I saw this a few weeks ago. It was the worst national tour I have ever seen. The music is not connected to the plot at all. The characters don’t sing, and the book is awful. Zero chance this gets any Tony nominations.

Would honestly rather see shows like Prada, Griswold’s Broadway Vacation, etc, because at least those have original scores, and are actually musical. Dirty Dancing felt like a play with music in the background.

fashionguru_23 said: "From what I understand, it is a new creative team taking on the stage version that played London, Toronto, and played a US tour. So, new set, direction, etc. But same production where Johnny and Baby don't sing, but a male and female singer with the band do."

Do we think this invokes the classics rule? Which would technically make it a revival at the Tonys?

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I can’t wait to see this. My fav movie. I hope they get a new Johnny. He looks stiff in all those promos

Chris Jones review - Chicago Tribune

"The director Lonny Price has worked a minor miracle with “Dirty Dancing: The Musical.” On stage, it’s never quite felt this way before.

This particular title — pure gold, when it comes to audience awareness and the relentless pull of nostalgia — does not have a history of being treated with theatrical dignity or quality. The show, based on the boffo 1987 movie with Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze, has origins in Australia and the U.K. and I first reviewed a U.S. live version thereof at least 17 years ago.

It was not a great night. I recall audiences flocking to a cheesy affair with cheap-looking video (flickering fireplace flames stick in my mind), stereotypical performances and the overall vibe of being mostly a cash grab from the movie’s fans.

But the all-new touring production, which had its opening night Friday at the Nederlander Theatre in Chicago, is a very different matter. Critics won’t matter much with this title and I think this new version would do well on Broadway in a limited summer run, for example, akin to the “Mamma Mia!” slot that made bank.

Darrell Grand Moultrie, the choreographer best known for Beyoncé’s world tour, has seriously upped the choreographic chops while still keeping the show rooted in its period and maintaining its crucial relationship to social dancing. To no small degree, that accounts for the film’s popularity.

The “upstairs” music in the show, previously blown off with cha-cha condescension, now offers the pleasures of the American song book, with “Fly Me to the Moon” and the like. Moultrie acknowledges that the Catskills-loving patrons of Kellerman’s would actually have known how to dance, many of them pretty well, just as the creative kids in the staff quarters would have been oozing with sexual tension. Price has cast the show adroitly. The new Equity company is stocked with skilled performers whose dancing chops are front and center and who, just as importantly, are approaching the piece with actual seriousness.

“Dirty Dancing” does not require Baby or Johnny to sing — the music in the show (“The Time of My Life” and “Hungry Eyes” being the big draws) come from the minor characters who double as vocalists performing at the resort. This bifurcation of roles clearly allowed Price to cast performers who are first and foremost dancers in the three most important roles: Blake Zelesnikar, who was in “American in Paris,” as Johnny, Olivia Cece (a “Moulin Rouge” dancer on Broadway) as Penny and a very charming and seemingly guileless (and thankfully humorous) newcomer named Annalese Starzec as Baby, rocking one of the few roles out there specifically for a dancer of a shorter stature. And her being a dead ringer for Grey, curls and all, does not hurt.

Price and his actors are still stuck with the original script, which is by Eleanor Bergstein, who wrote the movie. Ideally, someone would have persuaded Bergstein to acquire a new junior partner to freshen this book and foreground more of its specifically theatrical assets. But when surrounded by quite the elegant, cliche-averse design from Brett J. Banakis (highlighting the beauty of the Catskills) and with its lines now spoken by decent actors, it feels much more dignified than in the past.

There’s also a notable performance to enjoy here from Bryan Fenkart in the role made famous by the late, great Jerry Orbach. It struck me that Fenkart subtly was honoring his predecessor in his work here as Jake Houseman and it’s quite moving to see. Add some powerhouse vocals from Ashley LaLonde and some smooth song stylings from Erick Pinnick and you have an overall rehabilitation of quite impressive proportions.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still “Dirty Dancing,” the movie, on stage. But people can’t get enough of this story and for valid reasons. If that’s you, well, “hey baby.”

3 STARS

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Review: “Dirty Dancing

Updated On: 10/6/26 at 12:25 PM

Since Trump has came in and alienated people with his tariffs, from having vacation in the US, especially New York, this isn’t helped by expensive hotels with resort fees and general cost of living in the US in general. This is another example of a show that would have seen the light of day on Broadway 4 years ago, could add to this the Beetlejuice tour, The Wiz Tour and maybe Mamma Mia, a tour show would’ve landed on the Great White Way, then other stupid shows like Magic on Broadway, with Kermit - the only thing that has disappeared are quality shows.

I too wonder if this production could invoke the classics rule at the Tonys and be deemed a revival? Or if they consider the tour and its sit-downs one long runway to Broadway.

With the cancellation of Full Monty at Roundabout, we are left with just 4 musical revivals (Evita, The Fantasticks, Damn Yankees, The Sound of Music). Adding Dirty Dancing to this mix wont change the number of guaranteed nomination slots (lineups of 4 or 5 eligible shows both automatically yields 3 nominees). However, no Tony nominator is going to vote for this thing. Producers in the administration committee know this. If they push Dirty Dancing tot revival it will be the worst of the lineup. Therefore, if any of the other 4 shows stumbles a bit in its reception, it will automatically look better by comparison when nominators are looking at the list. This could help whatever show(s) at the bottom of the pack get votes and lead to votes being spread out enough that we wind up for a tie for the last slot and all 4 previously announced revivals get in.

On the flip side, putting this as another entry into Best Musical could actually help the category get to 9 eligible shows, and therefore a guaranteed 5 nominees. Dolly, Galileo, Paddington, Purple Rain, Wanted and Warriors make 6, The Heart and Benjamin Button I'm told are confirmed for the spring which makes 8. I've heard there's a chance for Black Swan to come in, but landing a ninth new musical this season looks uncertain. Dirty Dancing could be the ninth.

It's quite possible that this Rhinoceros development has also changed plans for The Heart, but I was told about 2 months ago (from 2 separate Roundabout sources) that it was 100% set to transfer this spring. It was never intended for the Haimes, so some scaling up would indeed be required.