You're going to have the time of your life and then some, according to one of the stars of Dirty Dancing. The stage show that's coming to CN Centre this week is not exactly a recital of the movie that swept the world in 1987.
"For our version, the movie has been expanded," said Aaron Patrick Craven, who plays the heartthrob dance instructor Johnny Castle who famously lifts Baby Houseman's summertime spirits when they are paired as a dancing duo at an upscale Catskills resort. Patrick Swayze played the part in the blockbuster film, with Jennifer Grey playing Baby. They became one of the most beloved couples in silver screen history, and now it is live on stage in Prince George.
"Everything you remember and love about the movie is there, but there is more," Craven explained.
"So if you grew up with the film, even if you watched it 100 times, there is something new for you. The characters got filled out, there are more songs, there's more to it."
The best part, he said, was the authenticity of these expansions. Their stage script was penned by Eleanor Bergstein, who wrote the movie in the first place.
In addition to being a charming love story, it is also tale of America's coming of age. Baby is the personified symbol of a country that was bursting out of tired traditions, a culture that was ready for rock 'n' roll after too many years of prim 'n' proper. But the advances of that rebellion came with costs.
It was an age of greased hair, leather jackets, rough and tumble music. It had a strong beat. It demanded to be danced to.
"I love that music, and I've played parts before that came out of that era," said Craven, referring to the time he portrayed Diesel in the Paramount Theatre production of West Side Story in Chicago.
"There's no one rock 'n' roll act from that era that I especially emulate, but I did study what Patrick Swazye did with the role. I'm not at all trying to channel Swayze, I definitely have different imprints on the character, but he did such an amazing job and the audience has certain expectations when they come to see the live show so I do have to present Johnny in a familiar way. But that's really all there in the script."
Like the late show-biz legend Swayze, Craven works hard to build the "triple threat" skills of dancing, singing and acting. When asked if he could do only one of those things at a special solo show all of his own, which would it be, he didn't hesitate to twist his answer.
He laughed that he would focus on the dramatic acting, but move around the stage in ways that might look something like dancing, and then he would finish by breaking into song.
His performance heroes, not surprisingly, embody that triple ability. He lists Danny Kaye, Fred Astaire and especially Gene Kelly as his triple-threat hat-trick. Those are the choices of a musical theatre purist.
"I think I was introduced to the arts because my parents would take me to see touring shows, musicals, and my mom loved all those old movies so I had a passing interest in it," said Craven, raised in Kansas City before taking post-secondary theatrical studies in Wichita.
"In high school I got to dip my toes in it, see how it felt, and it went from there. I went into Theatre as a major at first, I changed my major to Dance Performance, and now that's what I'm doing. I live in New York, and I get to do this full time. I feel really lucky."
He has been constantly busy in various casts since he graduated from Witchita State University a few years ago.
He's gotten to play Rocky in Rocky Horror Picture Show, the title character in Billy Elliot, and other plum positions.
Now he is gets to add the word "international" to his curriculum vitae, since making his debut on the Canadian side of the border for this national tour of Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story On Stage.
The show happens at CN Centre on Sunday at 8 p.m. in the still of the night.
Those who have hungry eyes for professional musical theatre can find some kind of wonderful at the TicketsNorth website or at the CN Centre box office, but hurry, because a touring show like this...she's like the wind. You'll want an overload.
