Viv Hardwick talks to Karl Sydrow, the mastermind behind the stage version of Dirty Dancing which still holds the West End record for advance ticket sales

DIRTY Dancing takes a slightly different route to schmoozing its fans and regularly runs pre-tour visits to venues with the aim of reminding punters about the success of turning the romantic 1987 drama, starring the late Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, into a record-breaking stageshow.

Producer Karl Sydrow is the man in charge of attracting new audiences, as well as reminding established fans that a 93-week UK tour will take in Sunderland and Newcastle this year (2015).

His main West End coop was in persuading Swayze to endorse the show for its 2006 Aldwych Theatre opening.

“We don’t pay tribute to Patrick Swayze in the show, but just doing this does remind people of this iconic actor. A star was born in this particular project and he went on to have a fantastic career which ended all too soon.

“He was playing Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls at the time and it was one of those coincidences that happen when he’s doing a show in the West End at the same time as we were opening Dirty Dancing. We opened with the largest advance in history (£6m, and selling out its first six months) and my fellow producers gnash their teeth about this, but no one has ever got close,” he says.

The North-East was given a taste of the tour when cast members visited Wearside.

“Audiences want to know how you put a film on stage like Dirty Dancing and there have been plenty of dance lessons going on and showing people how to dance dirty like we do on our show... and we make them all do the famous lift,” Sydow jokes before adding... “No, no, I don’t want to lose some of my audience. I don’t want them bouncing off the floor.

“I think I’m one of the few producers who goes around the country and does this kind of thing... in fact I think I’m the only one. I think reaching out like this makes people more involved with the show and they like this kind of thing.”

While Dirty Dancing made a star of Swayze, it’s noticeable that each run of the production features talented but little-known dancers like Gareth Bailey as iconic snake-hipped dance instructor Johnny Castle and Roseanna Frascona as idealistic Baby Houseman.

“We have to go out and find people who can really do this show, but we don’t really go out and cast a ‘star’ but we’ve always worked on giving people careers, which the movie did for Patrick Swayze. It’s more important for us that our people can do the dancing and faithfully recreate the film.

“People have a real vision of the film in their minds and I don’t know who else we’d hire to play Johnny Castle or Baby. People on the way up invest themselves in it much more because they meet the characters for the first time and it makes it worth better,” he says.

Putting Dirty Dancing on stage challenges the creative crew because the movie had 118 scenes which couldn’t all be translated to a live performance.

“It wasn’t a case of putting the film on stage, you just can’t. When you have a field and a lake and a bunch of other scenes you have to make more of the music and the dance to ensure the audience gains a live experience and enjoys a true adaptation.

“They used to say that audiences come into musical whistling the score, well ours come in whistling the script because they know every single word. We only have to give them a recreation because they are still engaged with everything they love from the film.”

As well as returning to the West End in 2013, until last year, Dirty Dancing shows are currently running in Vienna, Milan, Sydney, Paris and Rio de Janeiro.

“So, we’ve got versions in Italian, French, German, Portugese and various accents of English. I don’t seem to get much sleep because there’s always some version of the show I can be watching around the world at some time.

“I participate in all the casting and I’m there for every opening night. It’s important to see every production so that we maintain standards.”

I mention that Sunderland and Newcastle are traditional rivals and Sydow jokes that he wants people from the two cities to remain rivals and “compete to be the best audience that Dirty Dancing ever had. I want them both to have the time of their lives”.

Each tour involves extensive auditioning with dancers switching from the recent West End run.

“The dancing is incredibly strenuous and the ensemble works incredibly hard. So, if they don’t start off the run fit, they finish it extremely fit. The Babys always lose a lot of weight. It’s a real challenge to cast it and find that number of talented people for each show. Luckily, dance has become so popular that we are able to find enough people for each production.”

Sydow again highlights the name of Swayze for turning dance into a masculine art.

“Ten years, when we first started we had male dancers coming forward and saying that he was the reason they became a dancer. They said, ‘I knew I could be a dancer because Patrick Swayze was quite a guy and I wanted to be that guy’. So he was quite important.”

Sometimes Sydow looks for actors who can dance and often arranges to teach the women playing Baby how to dance.

“They come in, and have some natural talent, but are not really dancers. When they leave the show they are. Lots of times we’ve taught them and that works because Baby is not meant to be a great dancer at the start.”

He enjoys opening nights because that’s when audiences tend to go wild about Dirty Dancing and he looks forward to the reaction when Johnny lifts Baby and the song The Time of my Life.

“The audience always goes crazy when Johnny comes in and says, ‘Nobody puts Baby in the corner’ and they don’t stop going crazy until the last note plays out at the end of the show. It’s always been wonderful.”

Sunderland Empire, January 27 to February 14. Box Office: 0844-871-3022 or atgtickets.com/sunderland

Newcastle Theatre Royal, May 6 to 31. 08448-112121 or theatreroyal.co.uk