Dirty Dancing Musical Opens in London, October '06

One of the most popular movies of the '80s will head to the West End stage when Dirty Dancing premieres at the Aldwych Theatre on September 28th, 2006, and opens the next month. The musical is booked through April 7th.

"Dirty Dancing will be officially launched at an event at West End nightclub Café de Paris on the night of February 27th," according to a Whatsonstage.com article.

While casting and most of the creative team for the show have not yet been announced, the film's screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein has signed on to write Dirty Dancing's libretto. Bergstein "based the story's setting on her own childhood experiences of family holidays in America's Catskill Mountains." The 1987 movie smash, directed by Emile Ardolino and starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, recounted the romance of teenager Frances "Baby" Houseman and dance instructor Johnny Castle at an upscale holiday camp in the early '60s. The film featured a variety of '60s musical hits, such as "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Hungry Eyes," and "Do You Love Me?"

The stage musical version of Dirty Dancing was previously seen in Australia, where it premiered in Sydney in 2004 and went on to tour with Kym Valentine as Baby and Josef Brown as Johnny.

Dirty Dancing will succeed another musical based on an '80s film hit--Fame--at the Aldwych; the latter musical will close on April 29th. Meanwhile, the West End production of Footloose (which was a moderate musical hit on Broadway) will also begin performances at the Novello Theatre in April.