A stage musical of the 1987 film Dirty Dancing is eyeing Broadway once again, this time with Tony nominee Lonny Price, who acted in the original film, at the helm. Producers Lionsgate and The Path Entertainment Group (via their stage banner Showpath) say the new production will launch in late 2025 with a major run in North America, followed by an international roll-out. Further details are to be announced.
The film first came to the stage in 2004 with an Australian production that used the songs from the film and a script by the title's screenwriter, Eleanor Bergstein. The musical played a five-year run in London's West End beginning in 2006, getting revivals in 2013 and 2022.
Broadway has proved more elusive. A North American mini-tour, publicized as "pre-Broadway," was launched in 2006, playing Toronto, Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles. A full North American tour embarked in 2014.
It remains unclear how this upcoming production will compare to the earlier stagings, none of which were directed by Price. Bergstein is still attached, and says this version will be "reimagined" in a press statement. Press notes also tease "new choreography and staging concepts, and perhaps even some new songs."
"In the years after I wrote and co-produced the original film Dirty Dancing, I was grateful and astonished by the generations of audiences who responded with open hearts to the themes of honor and courage beneath the surface," reads Bergstein's statement. "Years later, sensing our audiences wanted to ‘be there’ while the story was happening, I wrote and co-produced a stage show. Its reception all over the world exceeded my sweetest dreams. Now we’ve come full circle, and with my old friend Lonny Price by my side, I’m returning to the stage with a reimagined version. Its hope is to be equal to the new world swirling around us while revisiting more fully and precisely the story I’d wanted to tell when I wrote my first lines. It’s my way of saying thank you to you all."
“I am beyond excited be reunited with Eleanor and to join her in bringing this expanded Dirty Dancing to the stage," adds Price. "For the people who already love the movie, they will get a deeper, more nuanced version of the characters they fell in love with. Having played Neil in the movie, I know full well the scores of people who have been touched by this story, and for me to return to Kellerman’s and direct this new musical iteration truly is a thrill."
Dirty Dancing centers on Frances "Baby" Houseman, who falls in love with a dance instructor while at a summer camp resort with her family. Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swayze, Jerry Orbach, and Price were all among the film's cast. Previous stage adaptations have used songs from the film's multi-platinum soundtrack, which includes the Oscar-winning "(I've Had) The Time of My Life."
