Obsession no longer a dirty little secret
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Dirty Dancing stars Kirby Burgess and Curt Phelan. Pic: Mark Calleja
Source: News Limited
WHEN she was a child, Kirby Burgess’s guilty secret was the film Dirty Dancing.
The 26-year-old, who stars as Frances “Baby” Houseman in the hit musical, recalled her childhood obsession with the 1987 film as the stage version bumped in to QPAC yesterday ahead of its opening next week.
DIRTY DANCING: Story behind the story
“I stole Dirty Dancing from my parents’ video drawer when I was about seven because I thought it was a naughty movie,” Burgess said.
“So I watched it when they were out and I fell in love with it. I have grown up with this character, Baby, as part of my life.”
She’s had a yen to star in the musical ever since, and first auditioned a decade ago, but when the producers found out her age she missed out.
“They thought maybe a 15-year-old girl shouldn’t be gyrating on stage,” Burgess recounted.
But she’s old enough to gyrate now, and she does so to perfection alongside Queenslander Kurt Phelan, 33, who stars as the older, more experienced Johnny Castle, played in the 1987 film by Patrick Swayze.
Burgess hails from Batemans Bay, south of Sydney, and has a pedigree that includes a musical theatre scholarship in New York and roles in TV’s Wonderland, Rizzo in Grease and Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.
Dirty Dancing star Kurt Phelan.
Source: News Limited
Dirty Dancing star Kirby Burgess
Source: News Limited
She said the most difficult thing about playing Dirty Dancing ingenue Frances “Baby’’ Houseman was playing someone who could not dance.
Baby has two left feet when she starts to learn how to dance dirty with hunky instructor Johnny. But, as the lessons progress, the passion on the dancefloor hots up and, by show’s end, Baby has the dance moves nailed. That means Burgess, too, is finally able to demonstrate to everyone what a terrific dancer she really is.
Dirty Dancing is set on the cusp of sweeping social change, and starring in the musical gave Burgess a chance to rediscover writer Eleanor Bergstein’s back story.
“She was very clever to set it in 1963, and it was important for us to learn about where the innocence of Baby came from,” Burgess said.
“I love playing Baby because she wants to be educated, she’s really passionate about everything and she’s willing to stand up to anyone, but doesn’t realise how cushioned her life has been. As an actor, she’s rare. She’s a comedy character, the dramatic character, the love interest, the damsel in distress and the hero and she gets to change and have a relationship with every person in the show.’’
Kirby Burgess and Kurt Phelan are set to steam up the stage. Pic: Mark Calleja
Source: News Limited
Phelan recalled the film Dirty Dancing somewhat differently: “Mostly through my sister; it was the girlie flick,’’ the NIDA graduate recalls of seeing the film as a child at Ayr, in north Queensland.
“I’ve been an avid fan of Patrick Swayze all my life. Dirty Dancing was also that Sunday night movie that was always on TV, and it’s huge in pop culture.’’
Phelan’s love for theatre started long before that, though, with a Hollywood classic: “When I was three I used to watch Singin’ in the Rain religiously, and I said to my mum, ‘one day I’m going to be that guy’, Gene Kelly all the way. But, when I got older, Patrick Swayze came into the fray and I thought, ‘wow, this is modern dance’.’’
Ten weeks into the Sydney season of Dirty Dancing, Phelan’s energy levels were flattening and he was losing 5-7kg a week. Drastic action was needed, as he had abbed up for the role that famously has a couple of heart-stopping shirtless dirty dancing scenes. The two-hour stage show makes the most physical demands on Johnny, and Phelan executes dozens of powerful body lifts of dance partners Burgess and Maddie Peat, as co-instructor Penny Johnson.
“I was training in the gym four to five days a week as well as doing the show and I kept getting skinny.’’
Kirby Burgess and Kurt Phelan go through their moves. Pic: Mark Calleja
Source: News Limited
So Phelan consulted a nutritionist to change his overly lean diet.
“I started having those gels like bike riders and I began to eat lots of chicken and broccoli and protein. On Mondays and Tuesdays (when the show isn’t on) I eat whatever I want.”
That, says Phelan, means “eating my body weight in Chinese food’’. “My bad thing, though, is a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.’’
With songs such as Hungry Eyes, Hey! Baby, Do You Love Me? and (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life, Dirty Dancing successfully crosses musical eras to cut it with new generations.
“The soundtrack is a nostalgic trigger for people, ‘’ Burgess said. “These songs start and everyone goes, ooohhh. It makes us feel young again.’’
Phelan said he was thrilled to be back in his home state and was “ready to play” – and he and Burgess will be doing just that on stage in Brisbane’s Lyric Theatre from next Wednesday.
Originally published as Obsession no longer a dirty little secret
www.news.com.au/entertainment/music
