DIRTY Dancing, The Classic Story On Stage, is coming to the Grand Opera House, York, from October 17 to 22 as part of a national-wide tour.

Producers Karl Sydow and Paul Elliott have added extra dates for 2017 in response to 150,000 ticket sales already, amounting to £5m at the British and Irish box office.

The summer 1963 love story of Baby and Johnny, featuring the songs Hungry Eyes, Hey! Baby, Do You Love Me? and the climactic (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life, already has enjoyed two West End runs, two British tours and various international productions.

In Dirty Dancing, Frances “Baby” Houseman will learn major lessons in life as well as a thing or two about dancing when, on holiday in New York’s Catskill Mountains with her older sister and parents, she she stumbles across an all-night dance party at the resort’s staff quarters.

Mesmerised by the raunchy dance moves and the pounding rhythms, Baby can’t wait to be part of the scene, especially when she catches sight of dance instructor Johnny Castle. Her life will change forever as she is thrown in at the deep end as Johnny’s leading lady both on stage and off, and two fiercely independent young spirits from different worlds come together in what will be the most challenging and triumphant summer of their lives.

In the new tour, Lewis Griffiths will star as Johnny Castle, after a prolific career in musical theatre, latterly starring as Nick Massi in the UK tour of Jersey Boys, following touring roles in Ghost, The Musical and Legally Blonde, The Musical, and West End credits in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, The Musical, Rent and Whistle Down The Wind. Katie Hartland will make her professional musical theatre debut, carrying the show’s infamous watermelons as she takes on the role of Frances “Baby” Houseman, having graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama last year.

Carlie Milner, already part of the Dirty Dancing family, will star as Penny Johnson, after starting as a member of the ensemble in 2014, then covering and subsequently taking over the part of Penny in 2015.

Noted for its “passion and romance, heart-pounding music and sensationally sexy dancing”, Dirty Dancing has been “re-conceived in an all-new production created by an innovative new creative team”, directed by Federico Bellone and choreographed by Gillian Bruce, with the design re-imagined by Italian set designer Roberto Comotti. Their production premiered in Milan last July, packed out the 15,000-seat Roman Arena in Verona and and then played a season in Rome. Tickets are available from the Grand Opera House, York, on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york