TORONTO - James Powell has already earned plenty of kudos in England for his production of "Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage. '' But the director says he's topped himself with the Toronto show, which starts next month.
"It's a top attraction in London but you want to improve on that and I, with hand on heart, think that in coming to Toronto we've improved and marked the show up on virtually every aspect,'' Powell said Friday.
The stage musical, which has shown in Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the U.K., will begin previewing to Toronto audiences on Oct. 31 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.
The North American ensemble cast of dancers, singers and actors haven't had a chance to rehearse there yet, though.
Instead, they've been singing, grinding, flipping and twirling their muscular limbs on a revolving stage in a studio with a bare-bones set for eight hours a day, six days a week for nearly four weeks.
They'll move to the real stage for technical rehearsals next Wednesday.
"It's called `Dirty Dancing' so I knew that it would be tough,'' Jack Simons, who plays the lead of Johnny Castle, said of the gruelling rehearsals.
The musical is based on the iconic 1987 big-screen romance starring Patrick Swayze as Johnny, a brawny dance instructor at a posh summer resort in 1963. Jennifer Grey plays Frances (Baby) Houseman, who is vacationing at the camp and falls in love with Johnny and his moves.
In the Toronto stage production, the role of Baby is portrayed by doe-eyed Monica West of New York City.
"`Time of My Life' I think is a lot of fun, especially at the end when everybody's dancing together,'' West said of her favourite scene in the stage show, which will include the famous bridge that Baby learned to dance on in the movie.
Milwaukee-born Britta Lazenga, who plays the troubled dance instructor Penny, dazzled at the sneak preview, stretching one of her long gams onto the shoulder of Simons during a dance number with ease.
"It's a lot of fun,'' the classically trained dancer said of the experience. "I come here everyday and it's like I'm not going to work, you know, I'm just going to playtime. It's a dream come true.''
West and Simons didn't dance together much during the sneak preview, but Powell said the two have a strong bond.
"What happened when they met each other was enough to tell us that they're perfect,'' he said.
"Without them saying a word, it already told half our story ... you can't direct actors to have that kind of chemistry. They have to have it on their own.''
