Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Ashley LaLonde of 'Dirty Dancing: The Musical'

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Exclusive Interview: Ashley LaLonde of 'Dirty Dancing: The Musical' · The BSB Podcast

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Few films have made music, dance,
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and romance feel quite as inseparable as Dirty Dancing,
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and now the iconic show is arriving at the Fisher Theater here in Detroit with
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a thrilling touring production.
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Joining us today is Triple Threat Ashley Lalonde who has toured with Hamilton,
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sing at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center,
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and is now bringing Elizabeth to life in Dirty Dancing the Musical.
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Thank you so much for being here,
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Ashley.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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This is so exciting. I will say this.
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I am going into Dirty Dancing blind.
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I've never even seen the movie.
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So I know nothing about it. ~
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Okay.
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but this is one when it was announced that it was coming.
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My mom got very excited. She was like,
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my gosh, Dirty Dancing, they're bringing a touring production of it.
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So, what was it for you about Dirty Dancing that first drew you to wanting
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to be a part of this production and made you want to join the tour?
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Yeah, that's a great question.
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I'll say honestly, I had probably seen dirty dancing as a kid at some point,
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but I didn't really remember it.
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I I knew the classic moment, the big lift at the end,
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and nobody puts baby in a corner,
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but I didn't really know what it was about.
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And to be totally frank, I when I first got the audition.
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I one was kind of on the fence because I didn't know if I wanted to go
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on tour again because I've been on tour with Hamilton and I was kind
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of resettled into my life in New York City and I'm I'm a Manhattan native,
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so I just love
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Sure.
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being in New York. ~ but I'm so glad I decided to just say yes.
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~ really honestly after like praying about it and having a moment of like,
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I think I should do this. Like there's something in my gut that says
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yes to this audition, and I didn't expect to book it.
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But I actually decided to not re-watch the movie during my audition process.
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And so I really was in there blind,
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but it totally obviously it worked out because,
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well, here I am doing the show,
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but it also worked because the role I play Elizabeth in Dirty Dancing
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is actually a brand new character.
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So Elizabeth was written just for the stage musical version,
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and it is the only
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Love that.
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newly added role. So it's really fun because I really came in fresh just
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What is Ashley's take on Elizabeth?
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Who does she get to be? And when you're originating a role,
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you bring so much of your own personality,
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your own flavor, your own ideas.
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And our creative team is extremely collaborative.
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And so they really let me speak into who Elizabeth could be.
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And now it's so special to get to originate that role on stage.
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But I have since re-watched the movie.
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Of course, then as a ritual, the night before our first rehearsal.
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I had to sit down and my husband and I rewatched the movie and just had a blast.
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So it is a this cultural sort of iconic thing.
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And I'll say, of course, for a lot of us,
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it was more our parents' generation because admittedly
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Right.
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the movie came out before I was born.
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But I think even for our younger generation,
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there is this feeling of like romanticism and boldness.
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fresh, like young feminine power,
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and even not just feminine for everyone,
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of like finding your inner voice,
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kind of discovering your sexual energy,
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all of that wrapped up into a very fun summer story.
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Absolutely. I mean, I feel like this is one that like you mentioned those pieces.
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I like there's pieces of the show that I think everybody knows whether they've seen
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it or not, that just speaks to it.
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And maybe that's because I grew up watching Glee,
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you know. I was again a little bit younger.
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I in high school when Glee was in and you saw some of those pieces,
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but you you do remember, you remember,
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you know, the time of my life and you know so it's interesting that you get
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to go in though to the show into a role that's not in the movie.
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How is that kind of to be able to have just a role that is specific to to you?
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and getting to kind of put your own spin into a story that's already established.
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I mean, it's such a gift. This is one of those things as a creative,
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as a Broadway actor, that you dream about.
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You dream about getting to put your fingerprints on a brand new role.
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So it does, it does feel like a gift,
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an answered prayer. Just so fun.
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And particularly because everyone working on this show is an absolute delight.
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This is one of my favorites.
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All-time favorite groups that I've worked with,
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and I've been really privileged to work with a lot of wonderful people.
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But there is an energy in this room.
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When we all came together back in June for our first rehearsal,
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there was just a tangible energy and a joy and a kind of all in commitment that I've
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seen. ~ So they've made it so,
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so fun. And then to discover how does Elizabeth relate to baby and Johnny?
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And this is not a spoiler, hopefully.
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But Elizabeth does have a little bit of a love story with Billy,
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who is Johnny's cousin, the guy who carries the watermelons.
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And so that has just been a huge blast.
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And I absolutely adore Ethan Peterson who plays Billy.
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And so us getting to play on stage every night has just been so fun.
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So it sounds like those who maybe know the film and love the film
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and stuff like that can expect like an expansion of some of these other characters
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that's not just always necessarily focused on on baby and ~ my gosh,
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I am blanking on her love interest.
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Jumpy. Yeah.
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~
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So, you know, there's not as there's a bigger focus on a lot
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of the different characters kind of making it a wider story,
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it sounds like.
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Sure, yeah. And to be clear, you will get all of the iconic Johnny and Baby moments.
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You will get the moments with Baby and her dad and Lisa's hula's in there,
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which is a crowd favorite as well.
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but like you said, there are some expanded moments,
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a few additional moments, of course,
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the added character. ~ but I think the feedback so far has been that people love
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the expanded version. It just gives them more of a window into what it
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was like that summer at Kellerman's.
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So then what would you say is kind of the emotional journey
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of Elizabeth throughout Dirty Dancing the Musical?
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Well, at the start, she is this young woman who's actually away from home
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for the first time. And she's going to work at Kellerman's.
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Her brother was supposed to come with her.
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He's not there. And so she's really discovering who she is outside
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of the confines of her family and her hometown.
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And of course, this is when she gets caught up in a bit of a love triangle between
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Billy and another guy. And so her journey is one of both finding her voice.
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~ literally, she this is not her current job.
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But
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she's an aspiring singer. And so you get
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Okay.
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to see a little bit of that journey where she wants to pursue this dream.
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And there's someone who believes in her and someone who doesn't.
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And so I think that's something we've probably all grappled with is being a
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Yeah.
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little bit young and having this big dream and having people who are rooting
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for you and believing in you and supporting that vision,
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and people who are maybe subtly or not so subtly.
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you know, tearing down that dream.
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And so I am really grateful that I mean,
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of course I I resonate with that as an artist and a creative and a young woman.
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~ but it's an honor to tell that story and then for her to find her voice both,
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you know, as a singer, as a young woman,
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and then to sort of in a messy way find her footing in romance.
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You know, I what I love about that too is I think that's such
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an important story that so many people,
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especially young people, need to hear of like sometimes there's gonna
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be like the with the good of a journey like this,
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there's also some some negative and like being able to navigate that
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and still push through and persevere regardless.
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I mean, that's such a an emotional journey.
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Like you're right, it's universal.
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And it's so cool that you get to kind of shepherd that in because that's something
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I think so many people need to see and understand.
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Like keep going. Like there's there's other stuff,
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your journey's still ahead of you.
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Absolutely. And and that's been my own creative journey.
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You know, I I'm really grateful to be back in Detroit because I actually played
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the Fisher with Hamilton back in 2022.
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So that was my first national tour.
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And to get to come back to the Fisher is such a treat and a delight.
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And I know it'll bring up this whole flood of memories.
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Also, it's just an absolutely beautiful theater.
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So I feel really grateful to be back and to be back in a time where I'm
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you know, one step ahead in my creative career and in my life.
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And so it is this long journey.
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And like you hinted at, whether you're an artist,
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whether you're a student, any other job or any other life chapter,
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you are going to face rejection and pushback.
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And you have to figure out what is my motivation and how do I keep pushing forward,
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even when the haters are hating.
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Thousand percent.
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so speaking of your journey, when did you finally kind of like realize that
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performing was something that you really wanted to pursue professionally?
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That's a great question. I'll say I have a less traditional journey to this
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job and to a creative career. I'm a born and raised New Yorker,
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like I said, and so I did grow up getting to see shows Broadway off Broadway.
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I grew up singing in church. So I've always loved the arts and I
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did always have this dream, but I also had other dreams.
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There was a part of me that wanted to be a doctor.
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There was a part of me that wanted to be a journalist.
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I was really academically driven.
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And so I actually ended up going to Harvard for sociology,
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which is
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Totally
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different
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Incredible.
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than what I do. ~ well, I'll say I don't think it's actually as different
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as many upon initially hearing that would say.
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Sociology is the study of society and people and identity and social organizations.
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And so
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My sociological studies have directly poured into how I approach acting,
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how I approach the material. And I also,
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Sure.
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you know, write and do dramaturgy and I've directed.
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And so it does pour into that creative work.
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And also, as I think many people know,
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even when you've reached a certain level in your creative career,
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many people, either by choice or by financial obligation,
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pursue other career paths. And for me,
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What's been really fun is actually when I'm not working a creative job,
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or sometimes when I'm working.
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So right now I'm doing a bit of both,
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and that's not by obligation, but by passion and love and choice,
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is I do sociological research on the side.
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And so I work with a research firm and I get to explore.
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Culture and the focus is actually like religion,
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faith, and culture and spirituality.
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And so that's what I research and write about in my spare time.
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And ~ I love it. So it's been a non-traditional path in that sense,
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and that I've
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Sure.
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actually pursued dual careers and I really like the other things that I get to do.
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But when I think about childhood Ashley,
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I do think this is this is really the seed of the dream.
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Of something I've carried for a long time.
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Research is something I discovered as I got older,
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and I discovered a passion for.
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I've always had a passion for performance,
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for music, for singing, for dancing,
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for acting, for storytelling. But there's also many different ways to storytell.
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So in that sense, I don't think there was one moment that was my big aha.
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I loved it as a kid.
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I started auditioning a bit in high school.
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I was not a Broadway
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Okay.
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kid, but I did I signed with my agents actually in high school.
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So I did start getting my footing a little bit in the industry.
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I booked my first bigger job when I was 18,
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which was also when I was a freshman at Harvard.
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So then I started my sort of dual lifestyle crazy town,
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~ running at a thousand miles an hour.
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So now it's just a gift when I get to sleep a bit.
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~
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For sure.
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but I I'm so grateful.
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to pursue multiple things that I love and specifically to live out this dream.
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That is I mean, that's so impressive that you are doing so much,
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but also doing soci sociology,
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sociological research and stuff like that on top of acting.
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That is that's so impressive and that's so cool.
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And like that's you're I love that you said different forms
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of storytelling 'cause that's also kind of storytelling.
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You're like you're keeping like that is so awesome and you don't always hear that
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story from somebody. So like that's incredible.
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Yeah, and I always love to share that,
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you know, when it's asked of me,
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because I think that especially people who are aspiring to careers on Broadway
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or in the arts, there is this impression that there is only one correct path.
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And it's just not true. If you asked every single person in the cast
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of Dirty Dancing, you know, what was your path from age 13 to age 30?
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Many of us are not yet 30, but you get the point.
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~
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Right.
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or even for we have folks who go up to in their mid to late sixties in the cast.
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And so asking every person their journey,
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you will not hear the same story repeated twice.
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Some people have degrees in musical theater,
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some people have degrees in all sorts of random different things.
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Some people don't have degrees.
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Some people, you know, worked this kind of job,
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that kind of job. There's just many different paths.
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I think, of course, a commitment to the craft,
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to working on your training and taking whatever resources you can get.
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There's many free things now, whether your path is a degree.
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or just privately studying while you work at your local grocery store.
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There's many paths. And so there's not one right way to do it.
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But I'm very, very grateful for the opportunities that have been afforded where
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I can pursue these multiple paths.
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You know, I will say my journey's nothing like yours,
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but like I was a psychologist first and foremost.
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And when I got into COVID, I just needed a hobby while I was stuck at home.
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And so that's how I got into journalism and,
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you know, critiquing and stuff.
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So like it it you can do both.
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And I still am a psychologist.
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That's my day job. But ~ this is also a passion,
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you know, and this is something that I love.
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And so get to have, you know, the thing that like the career that you're happy with
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and you're proud of and you've worked really hard for and then also,
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you know, the art that you that you love.
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So I'd love to I'd love to see that there's
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That duality that exists in other people too.
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Amen, Brian.
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so you had kind of mentioned that this show you didn't know if you were gonna tour
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again, you but this show came up and you're like,
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I think I have to do it. Why did it feel like dirty dancing was
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pr the right opportunity at the right time at this point in your career?
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A good question. I think I didn't know it at the beginning.
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I was in a chapter creatively,
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and this is now almost a year ago when I was first auditioning,
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where I had a combination of sort of healthy surrender and I was feeling
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a little bit discouraged. I had heard a couple big no's,
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and like we were talking about,
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there is so much rejection. And at a certain point,
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sometimes it can start to weigh on you where you question,
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you know, should I really be doing this?
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Would I be better off pursuing putting my energy somewhere else?
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And someone, especially for those of us who have multiple passions,
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I was really asking those questions.
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And I'll say it really just came down to this prayer gut moment of I think
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I should do this. And actually the audition for Dirty Dancing came in
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on my birthday this past year.
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So that also felt like a
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Awesome.
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fun, like, hmm, interesting. This is come the you know,
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I get this email on my birthday to come and audition.
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And it was I was very lucky to get to go in front of our
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director and music director, like right then and there.
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And so it was this sort of gut moment.
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But truly throughout, and I've said this to my castmates and fellow creatives,
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that I didn't think I was gonna get it.
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So I was just showing up, sort of like balls to the wall,
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Yeah.
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~ you know, doing the best I could.
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And I was low stakes about it.
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I think in a healthy way, where I've gone in for other jobs where I'm like
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so tense and excited. And of course it's like,
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Great to bring that excitement,
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but I think that I had a sort of relaxed energy to me because I really didn't think
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I was gonna get it. I saw also
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Sure.
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I saw so many other talented women who I know their work and I know their credits
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and I saw who else was in for it and I just was sort of not expecting anything.
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And I think it is healthy to have expectation and hope,
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but the chapter that I was in,
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I just was sort of nonchalant about it.
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I remember I was flying in from a research conference late the night before
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my final callback and I wasn't feeling well.
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And I just remember being like,
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man, I have to go to this final big callback tomorrow.
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And I haven't worked on the songs this week.
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And man, I just don't know. And I remember getting into these final
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two callbacks and the pianist was actually my personal accompanist
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who I've worked with, my music director,
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who I've worked with for years,
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and I see him sitting at the piano and it was just like
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All all the joy flooded into my body because I've been singing with this particular
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musician for years, and so there was also this peace and confidence about that,
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where even if my voice cracked because I was sick,
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or even if I messed up the lyrics,
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the person on the piano believed in me,
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and that really made a difference
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Ha ha.
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too. And I also felt that love from the creative team that they were they were
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so supportive and they still have been,
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you know, they are.
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very much rooting for you. I think that's also a misconception we have
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in the audition room. Like every time you walk into an audition room,
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everyone seated behind the table wants it to be you because you solve their problem.
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It's like they have a
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Right.
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problem, they don't have an actor in this role.
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They want you to walk in and be the solution.
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And so they are not preying on your downfall.
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They are rooting for you and hoping that it can be you.
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And so I feel very, very grateful that in that moment.
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It actually was. But I truly walked out of the final callback and I let it go.
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I remember I called my mom. I said,
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I did what I came here to do. I did the best I could.
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I was feeling under the weather,
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but I think I did a great job.
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I got great feedback from the team,
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but I don't think I got it. And I'm I'm okay with that.
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So when I did get the call from my agents and manager that I got it,
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I was shocked. It
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Mm-hmm.
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was probably an awkward phone call because I was so surprised.
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The universe was telling you. They were sending you all kinds of messages,
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it was gonna line up and you but that is that's so cool.
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And I like that you there was almost like a an acceptance of it of just being like
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it is what it is and like that's okay.
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And that
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Mm-hmm.
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obviously it worked out and that's so incredible.
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But like that acceptance of just being like the it wasn't going
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to be earth shattering or devastating in that moment.
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It but you were just accepting of like I did my best,
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I gave it all, and if they want me,
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they will.
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Yeah,
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exactly. And you're right. There's been like so many signs and beautiful moments.
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The fact that we opened for a month in my parents' hometown.
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So I'm a born and raised New Yorker,
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my gosh.
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but my parents are from the Twin Cities in Minnesota.
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And we spent a month there. So all of my extended family,
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my grandparents who haven't been able to travel to see me perform,
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all of them got to come and see the show.
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Like that was such a gift. Just the way that even the tour dates have lined
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up and all sorts of things to be revealed,
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it has been a gift.
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I feel very, very grateful and lucky to be here.
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That is so awesome. Now, when you're talking about dirty dancing,
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obviously again, we've mentioned that this is a show that people know,
18:07
that they love. You know, there's scenes and moments that they c have come
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to expect. Do you think that there is ~ like a pressure or like is
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it like almost intimidating or exciting to be able to bring these moments to people,
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like kind of in the way that they know that they are,
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but also changing it a little bit?
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Sure. I'll say I, you know, just given my process with this show
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and even creating an original role,
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I feel like the pressure has been released and I'm just trying to be present.
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But I do think
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Sure.
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that that is real. And I think if I was playing baby,
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which I'm not, but if I was, I might feel a little more of that,
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which is man, Jennifer Gray and Patrick Swayze are so iconic
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and their performances are so well known.
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But truly, I believe that our cast is giving you.
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This perfect balance of honoring the original work,
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honoring the original styles and the intricacies of those moments in
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the movie that people love while also still bringing a little bit of flavor.
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Because you want to see
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Sure.
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the movie, but also if it was literally exactly the movie,
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why are you paying a hundred plus dollars and traveling to a theater?
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Just turn on the TV. But that's where I think our creative team and
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my fellow actors have done such a beautiful job,
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is they are giving you.
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That that original flavor, but with the tiniest twist.
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And I've even heard that feedback from audience members and certainly reviews
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and critics, because I get to sing a lot of these iconic songs from the movie.
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So Time of My Life is a duet between myself and the actor who plays Billy Ethan.
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And getting
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Awesome.
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to sing that song. I mean, that's one of the most sort of well-known songs
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in American culture, just more broadly.
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Yes.
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And
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so singing that song, but not
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Mimicking the original recording artist but still giving you what you want to hear.
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You know, I was just doing a podcast with my business partner about the notebook,
20:01
and I said the one line I said in there is people nostalgia is a big thing,
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but people want to see their favorite shows just done a little differently.
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They don't want it so different that they don't recognize it,
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but they want just that
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Exactly.
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piece that is just a little bit that like you said,
20:13
that little twist to give it something a little bit more,
20:15
a little different. ~
20:16
Mm-hmm.
20:17
now for Elizabeth, is there something about her that you that like has come
20:23
to light as you prepare?
20:24
Performing her that maybe you didn't see originally in the script,
20:26
or is there like a away about her or something that you kind of found about this
20:29
character?
20:30
Yeah,
20:31
that's a great question. I think we've all been discovering
20:33
her together because again, she is the the newest edition.
20:36
I have been playing with really her playfulness is that she's young,
20:42
it's her first time away from home,
20:44
and so
20:45
What was it like, even for me?
20:47
Say when I first went off to college,
20:49
that first moment when you're at a party at college and you're like,
20:53
no one's watching. So I can, I can kind of be whoever I want,
20:56
say whoever I want. I'm new to all of these people.
20:58
So I think that has been the most fun part to discover for her,
21:03
is just that sort of wide-eyed,
21:06
introduction to the world that,
21:09
you know, I'm discovering now,
21:11
even at this point in my life,
21:12
but even taking myself back to when I was a teenager and it was my first time away
21:16
from home, that first moment when you realize I can be whoever I want to be,
21:21
and I can dance how I wanna dance,
21:23
and I can sing how I want to sing.
21:25
So that has been the most fun part to discover because truly,
21:28
and this is true across the board.
21:31
So much of the character is the personality you bring to it.
21:35
And it's not just on the page.
21:37
And I think particularly for Elizabeth,
21:39
which my role is more singing heavy than lines heavy.
21:44
~ whereas Baby and Johnny are very lines and dance focused,
21:49
and they don't sing as much in the show.
21:51
And then there's a few of the roles that are more singing and a little
21:54
bit less of the either scene work or dancing.
21:57
And you know, you'll see it when you see it on stage,
22:00
but
22:01
discovering like reading between the lines of okay,
22:04
well when she says that, what's what's her internal motivation?
22:07
And even as I relate to Billy,
22:09
this other character, at what point does she discover she likes him back?
22:13
Because he's sort of swooning after her for a lot of the show.
22:16
And so playing with, what does she see in him?
22:20
And
22:20
At what point does she kind of notice him for the first time?
22:23
At what point does she start to get that little like butterfly feeling
22:27
in her tummy for him? At what point does she not want him and why?
22:32
So playing with the playfulness and then the romance has been probably
22:36
my favorite part, apart from technically discovering the vocals of her,
22:40
which has been a blast, and they've given me a lot of freedom to to bring
22:45
my own vocal styling.
22:47
That's so cool. So cool you don't always hear about shows that you get
22:49
a lot of freedom. You a lot of them are wealth-oiled machines that have
22:52
to they've been running forever.
22:53
So you have to do point A to point B exactly how it is.
22:56
~ I don't want to make assumptions,
22:58
but I assume Hamilton was kinda like that,
22:59
you know. It's like, you know,
23:00
there's not a lot of change to that.
23:03
Sure.
23:03
I mean Hamilton is of course what well I will say 'cause I was an understudy,
23:08
so I was covering all three Schuyler sisters,
23:11
so I got to
23:12
play
23:13
around creatively with those three different roles,
23:15
Angelica, Eliza, Peggy, Mariah.
23:18
But of course, as you said, that show has now been running for 10 years.
23:23
It was running a little less than that when I was in it a few years ago.
23:25
But ~ you know, you want to give the audience what they're expecting
23:30
and the fingerprints of the original cast are already there.
23:33
But I will say that Hamilton creative team,
23:35
one, they're just incredible. And two,
23:38
they did give us some of that freedom where even for me as a cover,
23:43
I was nothing like our three Skylar sisters at the time and they let me,
23:47
you know, do my own thing within reason.
23:50
Of course, like
23:50
Right.
23:51
you're saying, when you're originating a role,
23:53
when the role has never been done before,
23:55
you have much more creative freedom.
23:57
And then what is interesting even and trippy to think about is then when future
24:02
people step into this role.
24:03
They're gonna look at your fingerprints.
24:05
They're gonna look at your legacy and figure out,
24:07
well, how do I make it my own?
24:09
And so that's that's really exciting to think about and you know
24:12
the possibilities of what where this show can go because the show has
24:17
not yet played in New York City.
24:19
So a lot of other tours that are probably coming to Detroit.
24:23
Are shows that have already been on Broadway,
24:25
and now you're seeing a replacement cast or a first national tour cast.
24:29
And this is this is the original.
24:31
And there was a previous version of Dirty Dancing the Musical about 10 years ago.
24:36
And this is a brand new version.
24:38
So totally revamped. So even if you saw a past version of Dirty Dancing,
24:43
this is a new deal. New people,
24:46
new ideas, new concepts. And the second you get seated,
24:49
you'll realize that.
24:50
I'm gonna say I think that you're the only show this season in Detroit that
24:54
is original. All of them have been on Broadway before.
24:56
So like getting to see I think that's why there is such an excitement besides
24:59
the fact again, nostalgia, dirty dancing,
25:01
but like there's such an excitement for the show because it's something that nobody
25:05
has really seen in Detroit, at least they haven't gone to Broadway to be able
25:08
to see it 'cause it's it's new and it's exciting.
25:11
Yeah, absolutely. So be the first to see it.
25:15
So there's obvious themes of young love,
25:17
independence, family expectations,
25:18
and finding your own voice in the story.
25:20
What do these theme which of these themes do you connect with personally?
25:24
I certainly connect with all of them.
25:26
I you know, I think we've touched on a lot of these,
25:28
but I think finding my voice has been ~ both in the metaphorical sense
25:33
and the literal sense as a singer,
25:35
is probably the one that right now I most resonate with because like
25:39
~ we hadn't been talking about earlier,
25:41
I did
25:43
feel discouraged about my talent and discouraged about my voice about
25:49
a year ago when I just received a bunch of no's in a row.
25:52
And so to find my literal voice while getting to sing a bunch of the songs
25:58
in the show, I sing the opening number and the closing number and do you love me?
26:01
Which is this big moment where Johnny and baby finally meet,
26:04
it has been a gift to settle into these roles vocally.
26:09
And to put my own vocal stamp on it and to discover with
26:13
our amazing music supervisor, Joseph Joubert,
26:17
who I've looked up to for a long time and have been eager to work with,
26:20
that has been a gift. ~ and then of course finding my own voice,
26:25
you know, as a young woman in America
26:27
Yeah.
26:27
in 2026,
26:28
just figuring out what are the things that I stand for and what does it look like
26:33
to stand for those things. And even,
26:36
you know.
26:36
The digital world is we could do a whole other podcast,
26:39
especially a psychologist and a sociologist talking about social media
26:43
and the digital landscape and AI
26:44
Yes.
26:45
and all of those things. But just to say wh what is the kind of person that
26:50
I want to be in the world? What kind of neighbor do I want to be?
26:53
What kind of coworker? What kind of friend?
26:55
What kind of partner? ~ all of those things,
26:59
processing them through
27:00
This chapter of my life has been really,
27:02
really quite special. And I look forward to bringing all the things that I've
27:08
learned from dirty dancing, both about myself and about the world,
27:11
into the next chapter.
27:14
sure. And final question for you is just what are you hoping audiences take away
27:17
from this production of Dirty Dancing the Musical?
27:19
Well, first and foremost, I hope you just have the time of your life.
27:23
I hope that you have fun. I hope that you feel a release and a joy.
27:28
I've gotten a lot of messages from audience members who said,
27:31
I laughed, I cried, and I screamed.
27:34
This was an absolute blast. And so I do think that theater has this service
27:39
and this ministry to it where it gets to
27:42
So, not just escapism, but remind you of who you really are,
27:46
remind you of the things you love,
27:48
remind you of when you were young and the first time you fell in love,
27:51
remind you of what it feels like to release and just not be self-conscious.
27:57
All of those things, I hope that audience members they get seated and they just feel
28:02
a relief and a release from whatever heaviness they may be carrying from what's
28:06
happening in the world or happening in their own lives,
28:09
that they can just feel that freedom.
28:11
And sit with us in the joy of young love and sexy dancing and really a fun summer.
28:18
Absolutely. And I think that they will.
28:19
~ 'cause again, this is this is hitting on so many different notes and
28:23
I there is just a general buzzing excitement for it.
28:26
So thank you so much for joining us today,
28:27
Ashley. It's been such a pleasure chatting with you about dirty dancing
28:30
and we're so excited for the show to arrive.
28:32
Thank you so much for having me,
28:33
Brian. It's been a blast.
28:35
So Dirty Dancing the Musical arrives at the Fisher Theater October thirteenth.
28:38
It runs through the eighteenth.
28:39
So get your tickets now from ATG Detroit.