Hey Baby! Dirty Dancing returns to Liverpool

Put down that watermelon and dust off your dancing shoes because Johnny Castle and Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman are returning to the Liverpool Empire next week.

Dirty Dancing fans are going to want to merengue down to Lime Street to enjoy the steamy stage version of the cult 1987 movie classic.

It’s the summer of 1963, and 17-year-old Baby is on holiday in New York’s Catskill Mountains with her older sister Lisa and their parents.

But she shows little interest in the resort activities, and instead discovers her own entertainment when she stumbles across an all-night dance party at the staff quarters. Mesmerised by the raunchy dance moves and pounding rhythms, Baby is drawn to the scene, and particularly the resort dance instructor Johnny Castle.

She carried a watermelon. Apparently. Photo by Alistair Muir.

Her life is about to change forever as she becomes Johnny’s leading lady both on-stage and off.

Like the film, the stage show features a string of sing-along hits including Hungry Eyes, Do You Love Me?, Hey! Baby and the famous final number (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life complete with THAT dance routine.

This latest tour stars Katie Eccles as Baby and Lewis Griffiths as Johnny.

Meanwhile Liverpool's Greg Fossard plays the boss's son Neil Kellerman.

He says: "I'm so excited to be coming to the Empire with Dirty Dancing, with it being the theatre where I made my professional debut as Gavroche in Les Miserables at the age of nine.

"It makes it all the more special to be finishing the tour there after 14 months on the road, visiting theatres all over the UK as well as Ireland, Germany, France, Monaco and Belgium.

"I know the audience are going to be bouncing and I can't wait to share the wonderful show with them all."

Dirty Dancing is at the Empire from September 18-23. Tickets from the website HERE.