Baby and Johnny bring familiar songs, playful staging and enough heat to make the Kravis audience forget its indoor voices during Dirty Dancing The Musical.

October 28th, 2026

Kellerman’s Checks In at Kravis

When Baby and Johnny finally slept together, the women in the Kravis Center audience reacted as though they had personally spent the summer trying to arrange it. There were screams. There were cheers. Somewhere beneath all that encouragement, a musical was still happening.

My ears may need another day.

That was the atmosphere surrounding Dirty Dancing: The Musical at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, where a familiar romance inspired some very fresh enthusiasm. The audience arrived knowing the story, loving the music and apparently having no intention of playing hard to get.

Set in the Catskills during the summer of 1963, the production follows Frances “Baby” Houseman as a family vacation takes an unexpected turn toward dance lessons, forbidden romance and independence. Annalese Starzec plays Baby opposite Blake Zelesnikar as Johnny Castle, the dance instructor who gives her considerably more to think about than the resort’s activity schedule.

DIRTY DANCING: THE MUSICAL 2026 Tour Photo 6: Annalese Starzec (Frances “Baby” Houseman) and Blake Zelesnikar (Johnny Castle).

The story stays close to the beloved movie, and the soundtrack practically arrives with memories attached. “Hungry Eyes,” “Do You Love Me?,” “She’s Like the Wind” and “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” help turn the theater into a temporary reunion for people who have never quite checked out of Kellerman’s.

Yet amid that warm familiarity, one element caught my attention: the greater emphasis on civil rights and the Freedom Riders than I remembered from the film. Outside the resort’s carefully arranged vacation bubble, the country is confronting profound change. Giving those events more space adds weight to Baby’s convictions as she begins deciding which expectations deserve her respect and which deserve a challenge.

It gives her summer some substance beyond an attractive instructor and a suddenly very complicated relationship with her father.

Those complications would be less entertaining without the dancing, of course, and Darrell Grand Moultrie’s choreography keeps the production moving. The contrast between polished performers and Baby’s ongoing education gives the dance sequences a purpose beyond simply looking impressive. We are watching someone learn how to trust herself, occasionally while trying to remember what her feet are supposed to be doing.

The singing deserves attention of its own. Ashley LaLonde, playing Elizabeth, and Ethan Peterson, playing Billy Kostecki, were particular standouts for me. Their voices cut through an evening full of visual distractions and gave me good reason to stop watching everyone’s feet.

Keeping that training moving requires some clever staging. Props marked with the days of the week take us through Baby’s rehearsals as showtime approaches, turning the calendar into a dance partner of sorts. The days advance, her confidence grows, and we get the progress without attending every lesson.

The production is equally resourceful when the story heads into the water. A sheer curtain creates the illusion of the actors being submerged, recreating the scene without requiring an actual nightly soak. It is an effective bit of stagecraft and a merciful arrangement for the cast. Nobody puts Baby in a puddle.

Elsewhere, the group dance lessons supply some welcome comedy, particularly from the older male characters. After watching so much accomplished movement, their efforts feel comfortingly familiar. For a moment, I could imagine joining the class without immediately becoming its cautionary tale.

DIRTY DANCING: THE MUSICAL 2026 Blake Zelesnikar (Johnny Castle) and the Dirty Dancing: The Musical Company. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

Those lighter moments help the romance build without making the whole evening feel overly earnest. There is affection here, but also room to laugh at the awkward business of getting close to someone, especially when choreography is involved.

And getting close was clearly what this audience had come to see. Fans sang along, cheered recognizable moments and greeted Baby and Johnny’s relationship milestones with the enthusiasm usually reserved for a successful marriage proposal at a family gathering.

That shared anticipation gave the performance much of its charm. A scene you know by heart feels different when it is unfolding in front of you and several hundred people are waiting to react alongside you.

Between the standout voices, energetic choreography and inventive staging, Dirty Dancing: The Musical made an entertaining evening out of a story many audience members already knew well. The production gave them plenty to enjoy, and they returned the favor at a volume the cast could hardly miss.

Baby spent the summer finding her voice. The Kravis crowd had theirs warmed up before she got there.