• Photo By: Matthew Murphy, Courtesy: Wharton Center

EAST LANSING - Dirty Dancing, the classic story on stage, made its way to East Lansing beginning on Tuesday, November 10th and will stay until November 15th. The production features hit songs such as, "Hungry Eyes," "Hey Baby," "Do You Love Me?" and the classic, "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life."

It's set in the summer of 1963, in New York's Catskill Mountains. 17-year-old Frances, who's also known as 'Baby', Houseman is on vacation with her older sister and parents. She finds herself mesmerized by the dance moves and rhythms in the resort's staff quarters. She can't wait to join them, especially when she notices Johnny Castle, the resort's sexy dance instructor. The two connect and Baby's life changes when she's thrown into the scene as Johnny's leading lady, both on-stage and off.

Cast member Christopher Tierney (Johnny Castle) has danced with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Les Ballet Jazz du Montreal and Houston Ballet. He was part of the North American premiere of Dirty Dancing and an original cast member on Boradway in Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark.

"It's a story you can get behind, that people have experienced, they've been a part of. And it's like romanticized deeply, but don't we all romanticize our past a little bit too?" said Tierney.

Jenny Winton (Penny Johnson) trained at the San Francisco Ballet School under Lola de Avila, Pascale Leroy, Gloria Govrin, and Shannon Breshnahan. She performed with the Pennsylvania Ballet II in 2008, and joined the Joffrey Ballet in 2009. In 2014 she was invited to the USA IBC where she competed as a Senior Female Soloist.

"I think it's a story that no matter what generation you're in you can relate to, just the passion for dancing and for music is so relatable as well and these songs are so iconic, it's just such a uniquely human story," said Winton.

The production's book was written by Eleanor Bergstein, and the tour is directed by James Powell with choreography by Michele Lynch based on Kate Champoin's original choreography. The North American tour is produced by Amber Jacobsen, NETworks Presentations LLC, Grove Entertainment and Col Joye in association with Lionsgate, and Magic Hour Productions.