DIRTY DANCING

Talk about putting Baby in a corner: Though Dirty Dancing achieved cult-hit status after its 1987 debut, it took nearly 20 years for the music-filled film to become a musical. That changed in 2004 with the Australian premiere of Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage. Now the traveling musical makes its American debut at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago on Sept. 28.

The musical follows the same plot as the film. Set in the summer of 1963, Frances “Baby” Houseman vacations with her family at a Catskills resort. There, Baby makes friends with the resort’s shadier employees and falls in love with dance instructor Johnny Castle. Eleanor Bergstein, who wrote both the movie script and the musical, says the show gives audiences more of everything. “When I talked to fans about the movie, I found that people wanted to actually be there while the story was happening,” she says. “The musical holds out the promise of that emotional intensity because it’s happening in front of you.” The musical’s 26 songs help create that ’60s Catskills vibe.

Since Dirty Dancing’s debut, it has visited countries like Canada and Germany. But you don’t have to travel to Chicago to have the time of your life: The show heads to Boston and Los Angeles in 2009.

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Watch one of Dirty Dancing’s most iconic scenes—the final dance between Johnny and Baby—here.

Can you name Baby and Lisa’s parents? Remember how Johnny damages his car? Take this quiz to see how much of the film really stayed with you.

Dancing isn’t the only film to leap from the screen to the stage. Click here to read about more movies-turned-musicals, including Legally Blonde, Young Frankenstein, and Xanadu.

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