Dirty Dancing at PPAC
By Doreen Scanlon
You’ve probably seen the movie Dirty Dancing—but not like this. The 1987 classic film is taking a twirl on stage at the Providence Performing Art Center this week.
The story of Johnny Castle and Frances “Baby” Houseman taking the audience back in time to when they first saw the movie.
“It’s an iconic film and so many people grew up with it. They remember where they were and who they were with” said Samuel Pergande, who plays Johnny in the show.
Pergande’s role of Johnny was the role made famous by Patrick Swayze. Those are not easy shoes to fill, but Swayze was a big inspiration.
“Having a guy like Patrick when that movie came out… he made it cool for guys to dance,” said Pergande.
His Dirty Dancing partner, Baby, is played by Gillian Abbott, who wear her short, curly wig to help get into character.
“It does… it totally does… it’s a great wig!” said Abbott.
But what about delivering some of those classic lines? “Nobody puts Baby in the corner” gets a big cheer from the audience.
Pergande explains that the cheers for that line happen more times than not, “The audience is waiting for it, so you want to deliver it in a way everyone is ready for it and can hear it.”
Dirty Dancing is at PPAC through Sunday, April 26th.
© WLNE-TV 2015
