The 2022 Tour Schedule of "Dirty Dancing in Concert"

Relive the timeless love story of Baby and Johnny with Dirty Dancing in Concert, celebrating the film's 35th anniversary on a full-size cinema screen with a band and singers live on stage. With a soundtrack that defined a generation, Dirty Dancing in Concert promises to bring a new thrilling experience to the 80s classic! Dirty Dancing in Concert launches a 36 city tour across the US and Canada in October. Fans can sign up for the presale now at Dirtydancinginconcert.com.

Audiences attending Dirty Dancing in Concert will experience the hit film in a unique and unforgettable way. A complete screening of the digitally remastered film will play as a band and singers perform the songs live, in sync with the film. Stay for the encore party and continue to sing and dance along with the band to your favorite Dirty Dancing songs.

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2022 Tour Schedule
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Oct 21 -- Glace Bay, NS -- Savoy Theatre

Oct 23 -- Halifax, NS -- Dalhousie Arts Center

Oct 24 -- Saint John, NB -- Imperial Theater

Oct 25 -- Charlottetown, PEI -- Confederation Center

Oct 27 -- Portland, ME -- Merrill Auditorium

Oct 28 -- Boston, MA -- Shubert Theatre Boston

Oct 29 -- Philadelphia, PA -- Academy of Music

Nov 1 -- London, ON, CA -- Budweiser Gardens

Nov 2 -- Hamilton, ON, CA -- First Ontario Concert Hall

Nov 4 -- Detroit, MI -- Fisher Theatre

Nov 5 -- Columbus, OH -- Palace Theatre

Nov 6 -- South Bend, IN -- Morris Performing Arts Center

Nov 7 -- Indianapolis, IN -- Clowes Memorial Hall

Nov 9 -- Louisville, KY -- Kentucky Center - Whitney Hall

Nov 10 -- Akron, OH -- E.J. Thomas Hall

Nov 11 -- Rosemont, IL -- Rosemont Theater

Nov 12 -- Milwaukee, WI -- Riverside Theater

Nov 13 -- Rockford, IL -- Coronado Performing Arts Center

Nov 15 -- Atlanta, GA -- Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Nov 16 -- Birmingham, AL -- BJCC Concert Hall

Nov 17 -- Pensacola, FL -- Saenger Theatre

Nov 18 -- Jacksonville, FL -- Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts - Moran Theater

Nov 19 -- Tampa, FL -- David A. Straz Center - Carol Morsani Hall

Nov 20 -- Fort Lauderdale, FL -- Lillian S. Wells Hall at The Parker

Nov 22 -- Sarasota, FL -- Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

Nov 23 -- West Palm Beach, FL -- Kravis Center - Dreyfoos Hall

Nov 25 -- Raleigh, NC -- Duke Energy Center - Fletcher Opera Theater

Nov 26 -- Charlotte, NC -- Ovens Auditorium

Nov 27 -- Greensboro, NC -- Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts

Nov 29 -- Tysons, VA -- Capital One Hall

Nov 30 -- Norfolk, VA -- Chrysler Hall

Dec 1 -- Richmond, VA -- Altria Theater

Dec 2 -- Augusta, GA -- Bell Auditorium

Dec 3 -- North Charleston, SC -- North Charleston Performing Arts Center

Dec 4 -- Savannah, GA -- Savannah Civic Center - Johnny Mercer Theatre

Miscellaneous Videos - 317

My Other Idea for a Sequel

My Idea for a New Sequel

My Idea for a Prequel

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On July 11, I published a post titled The Movie "Blow-Up" and Baby's White Jeans. That movie was released in the USA in December 1966, and it begins with the main character riding in a car and playing on his radio the song "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?". That song, performed by The Lovin' Spoonful, was on their record album that had been released in April 1966.

The song reached Number 2 on the American Billboard charts in June 1966, and so the movie audience recognized immediately that the movie's story was taking place in 1966.

The song is about a man who has fallen in love with two sisters but now must choose only one of them.

Here are the lyrics:

Did you ever have to make up your mind?
Pick up on one and leave the other one behind?
It's not often easy, and not often kind
Did you ever have to make up your mind?

Did you ever have to finally decide?
Say "yes" to one and let the other one ride?
There's so many changes, and tears you must hide!
Did you ever have to finally decide?

Sometimes there's one with deep blue eyes, cute as a bunny,
With hair down to here, and plenty of money.
And just when you think she's that one in the world
Your heart gets stolen by some mousy little girl!

Sometimes you really dig a girl the moment you kiss her,
And then you get distracted by her older sister.
When in walks her father and takes you in line
And says "Better go home, son, and make up your mind".

Here is a video of the song with photographs from the television show Petticoat Junction, about three sisters, which was broadcast from 1963 to 1970. I used to watch that show all the time.

Anyway, I suggest a Dirty Dancing sequel in which Johnny Castle falls in love with Lisa Houseman in New York City in about 1966. For Johnny, Lisa is a better romantic match than Baby is. Lisa is more artsy, romantic and fun-loving. Also, Lisa is a couple years closer in age to Johnny. Baby is too serious, brainy and young for Johnny. 

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Aside from the drama of Johnny choosing Lisa over Baby, my proposed sequel would provide an opportunity to feature dance styles that are different from ballroom dancing. 

In 1964 -- the year when the Beatles arrived in America -- the Judy Garland television show featured a sensational dance led by choreographer-dancer Bobby Banas. 

(This video's title includes the year 1963. The song "Nitty Gritty" was released in 1963, but this Judy Garland television show was broadcast in 1964.)

Here are a few more YouTube videos featuring Bobby Banas.

Anyway, my proposed movie would involve Johnny (and Penny and Lisa) with Bobby Banas (or some other similar choreographer-dancer) in New York City in the time-frame of 1964-1967. The movie would portray the music, performance dancing and entertainment business in New York City in that time-frame.

An interview with Bobby Banas

Jews on Film -- Dirty Dancing

Daniel Zana and Harry Ottensoser discuss films of all types to investigate what truly makes a film Jewish. Covering everything from Fiddler on the Roof to Uncut Gems, they finish each episode by ranking the film’s production, content, and themes on a scale of 1 to 5 Jewish stars. Listen each week to find out!

In this week's episode, Daniel and Harry are joined by Seattle based writer and podcaster Emily Alhadeff to discuss the 1987 classic Dirty Dancing, starring Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze. Listen along as they uncover the film's concealed - but undeniable - Jewishness, consider the history of Jewish independence and assimilation in the United States, and are convinced once and for all why no one puts baby in a corner. As always, they end the episode by ranking the film’s Jewishness.

Other Videos

Miscellaneous Videos - 316

Miscellaneous Videos - 315

More Cheryl Burke Videos

My Idea for a Prequel

I don't like the idea of a Dirty Dancing sequel where Baby Houseman and Johnny Castle get together again. That couple has no future. Their four-day romance happened only because of an odd situation where Baby had to substitute-dance for Penny Johnson, who had a schedule conflict between a dance performance and an abortion.

The only situation that might bring them back together for a long time would be if Baby got pregnant from that romance. If that happened, though, then she would get an abortion for sure. Baby is going to attend college for at least the next four years. 

The romantic story of Baby and Johnny has been told in the movie Dirty Dancing. You can tell that basic story many times more. The story already has been re-told in the ABC re-make and in the stage musical and can be re-told more times. In comparison, the Pride and Prejudice story has been told in about a dozen movies and television series. 

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I suggest a Dirty Dancing prequel, which would tell what happened at the Kellerman hotel in the weeks before the Houseman family arrived there. A prequel would tell:

* the history of the relationship between Johnny and Penny

* the arrangement of their performances at the Sheldrake Hotel

* the sexual affair between Penny and Robbie Gould

* Johnny's sexual liaisons with Vivian Pressman and other women

* New aspects of Billy Kostecki, Neil Kellerman, Tito Suarez, the magician, the Schumachers, Johnny's entertainment crew, etc.

During those weeks, Max Kellerman could have his heart attack, and Jake Houseman could come to the hotel to provide medical treatment. Marjorie Houseman could accompany Jake on that trip. Perhaps they could have some phone conversations with their daughters Lisa and Baby.

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Here are some political and cultural events during those weeks:

June 1
Lesley Gore's song "It's My Party" reaches #1.

June 10
President Kennedy signs an equal-pay-for-equal-work law for men and women.

June 11
Federal troops compel the University of Alabama to accept Negro students.

June 11
A Buddhist monk burns himself to death in a political protest in Saigon.

June 12

The movie Cleopatra premiers.

June 12
Negro leader Medgar Evers assassinated.

June 15
The Sound of Music closes on Broadway after 1,443 performances.

June 16
The Soviet Union sends a female cosmonaut into orbit.

June 26

President Kennedy gives his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in West Berlin.

August 3
Allan Sherman releases his song "Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda".

August 13
Another Buddhist monk burns himself to death in Saigon.

Miscellaneous Videos - 314

MAGA Republicans Resisting the Red Yawn

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Click on the image to enlarge it

My Idea for a New Sequel

Eleanor Bergstein's movie Let It Be Me, released in 1995, was (I speculate) intended to be a sequel to the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing.  Very few people have watched Let It Be Me, because it was not shown in movie theaters or provided in a DVD. It's my understanding that the producer maliciously caused the movie to disappear because he quarreled with Eleanor Bergstein, who wrote and directed it.  

You can watch Let It Be Me on YouTube. The visual and audio qualities are poor, but otherwise I think the movie is excellent. I suggest that Let It Be Me be re-done as the new sequel to Dirty Dancing.

In 2017, published a blog article titled Eleanor Bergstein's Third Movie, "Let It Be Me". There I summarized the plot as follows:

When the story begins, Emily and Gabriel have been acquainted for seven months. They love each other and live together and are planning their wedding.

The character Emily is 29 years old (the actress Jennifer Beale was about 31 years old when the movie was made in 1994). Emily is keeping a secret from Gabriel. Twelve years previously, when she was 17 years old, she got pregnant from a high-school classmate named Bud (last name not mentioned). Emily and Bud were dancing partners in some program that is not explained in the dialogue. When Emily learned she was pregnant, she was not able to contact Bud, who was touring with a dance troupe. Therefore Emily had an abortion, and she had no contact with Bud for the following 12 years.

About a third of the way into the movie's story, Emily and Bud happen to meet again. Bud owns a dance studio where Emily's fiancé Gabriel, an incompetent dancer, has been taking dance lessons to prepare for the post-wedding party of Gabriel and Emily. Emily visits the studio to join Gabriel in his dance lessons, and there she meets Bud. Although 12 years have passed, Emily and Bud recognize each other immediately. They explain to Gabriel that they had known each other and danced together in high school.

When they meet each other again in Bud's dance studio, he still does not know about Emily's pregnancy and abortion. Emily does not tell Bud until much later in the story.

The character named Bud -- the owner of the dance school in Manhattan -- corresponds to Johnny Castle. (In real life, the actor Patrick Swayze was called Buddy by his close friends.) 

In a new sequel, Johnny Castle could be made into Bud easily, but Baby Houseman could not be made into Emily so easily. To do the latter, the Let It Be Me plot would have to be changed fundamentally. 

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In a new sequel, the actress Jennifer Grey could play an older character named Marguerite. Furthermore, this character might be changed easily into an old Baby Houseman.

In my 2017, I summarized the Marguerite subplot as follows:

Let It Be Me includes a subplot involving a couple of older characters, played by Patrick Stewart and Leslie Caron. Stewart plays his role superbly, delightfully. Caron -- a French actress who became famous as a young woman for dancing opposite Gene Kelly in An American in Paris -- plays the role of an old woman who dances poorly.

Patrick Stewart and Leslie Caron dancing
in a scene in the 1995 movie Let It Be Me.

Unfortunately, Bergstein used this subplot to inject her liberal political concerns into the movie. In this subplot there are many snide comments about rich people and there is a long line of starving poor people receiving free soup from a charitable organization. I suppose that some people in test audiences would have been annoyed by Bergstein's gratuitous liberal propaganda.

At the movie's end, this older couple marries, and the post-wedding party assembles all the characters again in the dance studio. Although Bud and Corrine have broken up and Gabriel and Emily have broken up, the two couples dance again and begin their reconciliations. Thus the movie ends nicely.

A new sequel like this would have a major anachronism. Johnny Castle (Buddy) would have aged perhaps only three years after the Dirty Dancing story, but Baby Houseman would have aged about three decades. If that anachronism is unacceptable, then that female character could remain Marguerite (i.e. not Baby Houseman), but the role would be played by the now 72-year-old actress Grey.

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In a future blog article, I will tell some other sequel ideas of mine.