‘Dirty Dancing’ comes to Beaver Creek in concert, with local musical director

‘Dirty Dancing’ in Concert revives the nostalgic coming-of-age film as musicians and singers bring the soundtrack to life — while the digitally remastered classic plays on a huge screen behind them.

“It adds another layer of excitement,” said Michael D’Elia, who sings the part of Johnny Castle, originally played by Patrick Swayze. “It really engages the audience; they get really into it.”

Yet another engaging aspect comes in the form of a local, Collin Idzikowski, who grew up in Edwards attending Vail Performing Arts Academy (VPAA) then studied at Berklee College of Music and is now the music director of ‘Dirty Dancing’ in Concert. He goes by the stage name Collin Keller.

“He was a standout performer and musician during his time at VPAA, and now he’s bringing his talents back to the Vilar in an incredible way,” said Annah Scully VPAA founder and executive producer.

He first performed in VPAA’s “Aladdin” in 2006 and ended with “The Little Mermaid” in 2013. He also played guitar to all of The Beatles’ songs in its British Invasion Revue.

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“He grew up on the Vilar stage, and now he’s working on the Vilar stage,” said VPAA Artistic Director Colin Meiring. “This is the importance of VPAA.”

D’Elia counts Kellar as one of the standout members of the show.

“They’re all incredible people that I’m so lucky to work with. The musicians are phenomenal,” he said. “And the music is so iconic. Each song is so memorable — you have ‘Cry to Me’ by Solomon Burke and ‘Hungry Eyes’ by Eric Carmen.”

The live performers strive to match the chemistry of Swayze and Jennifer Gray “to make sure the audience can feel some of that,” he said.

And they do: He said they scream for their favorite characters and lines and dance and sing along to the songs.

“It’s really pretty fun for us, too,” he said.

After the film, the performers deliver a 30-minute encore, which is actually a dance party with a mediey of music.

“I’m going to use a cliché, and I’m going to say they have the time of their lives. It’s a really fun, immersive experience. You get drawn into this music. You’re probably going to hear music that maybe you haven’t even really noticed before. There’s a lot of great underscoring that I never really picked up on, and then when we have this party at the end, you get to sing and dance with whoever you’re there with, and It’s just a blast,” he said. “People come up to us at the end, and they say that they just had so much fun. It’s a great time.”