West End musical Dirty Dancing is going to be even more fruity than usual this summer as it holds a quirky new competition to celebrate National Watermelon Day.
If you haven’t heard of National Watermelon Day (where have you been?), then that may be because this is the first ever such celebration in the UK, to be held on Monday 4 August.
Dirty Dancing is the only West End show to include reference to the humble watermelon, which occurs when Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman, clutching said fruit on meeting sexy dance teacher Johnny Castle at an illicit dance party, exclaims awkwardly “I carried a watermelon”.
In keeping with the theme of the show, Dirty Dancing is offering a free pair of top price tickets to the first 20 people to carry a watermelon to the Aldwych theatre at 10:00 on National Watermelon Day, 4 August. Tickets are for that evening’s performance.
Dirty Dancing, which opened at the Aldwych in October 2006, is the stage version of the hit 1987 film, which starred Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey.
Set in the 1960s, this coming-of-age story follows Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman, an idealistic daddy’s girl, who comes to Kellerman’s holiday camp with her family. There, she meets Johnny Castle, a dancer from the wrong side of the tracks, and they fall in love.
The stage show recreates all the classic moments – and dialogue – from the film, which, in addition to the watermelon remark, also includes the famous line ‘Nobody puts Baby in a corner’. National Corner Day could be just round the…
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