Happy Birthday "Dirty Dancing"! The dance film starring Frances "Baby" (Jennifer Grey) and Johnny (Patrick Swayze) was released 30 years ago. The musical is also a hit.
Persuasion
Patrick Swayze had to persuade Jennifer Grey to take on the role in "Dirty Dancing" in 1987, as she had no fond memories of working with him in the action drama "The Red Tide" in 1984.
Age difference
Jennifer Grey was ten years older than her film character Frances Houseman. During the casting, she was given five minutes to prove that she could play a 17-year-old schoolgirl.
Color help
The romantic scene by the lake has no close-ups. It was filmed in October, Grey and Swayze had blue lips. The forest leaves, already autumnal, were spray-painted green.
Good things take time
It was 20 years after the film's success that Eleanor Bergstein dared to make a musical version. It premiered in Sydney in 2004. Since then, "Dirty Dancing - The Original Live On Tour" has had over 8 million viewers.
Dirty Dancing plus
The stage show is also set in the summer of 1963, but "the musical version allows us to show additional scenes with Baby and Johnny," says author Eleanor Bergstein. Scenes in which the two protagonists deepen their relationship. The musical has 20 more scenes - and 25 more songs.
