An adaptation of one of the most successful films and sound tracks of all time is coming to the Dartford stage and promises to be sexier than ever.

Dirty Dancing on tour has made £500m and been seen by six million people worldwide, including an audience of 9,000 at the amphitheatre in Verona.

As the second venue in a new UK tour, it will be on at the Orchard in September and has now been officially launched.

Speaking to the Messenger, producer Karl Sydow said: “This production has been put together by our Italian creative team, which means it’s a super sexy version.

“We bring the crew and set over here and get British actors for the parts.”

"I was at a party when a drunk rock ‘n’ roll producer came up to me. He was bankrupt but had managed to keep the stage rights to Dirty Dancing and asked me if I would produce it." - Karl Sydow

Carlie Milner will play Penny. Final auditions for the other main characters, Johnny and Baby, are under way. In the meantime, Paul Michael Jones, who has played Johnny for the last couple of years, is helping promote the tour and will mentor his successor.

Mr Sydow recalled when he first decided to take on the show: “I was at a party when a drunk rock ‘n’ roll producer came up to me. He was bankrupt but had managed to keep the stage rights to Dirty Dancing and asked me if I would produce it.

“I know the show – my daughter would watch it with her friends all the time, so would their mothers and aunts all in a big group – but I’d never actually seen it all the way through because I’d invariably get shooed out the room.

“I spoke to my friend Judi Dench to see what she thought and she said ‘if you can put the film on stage, do it’. I realised you’ve got this huge demographic – people of all ages love this film.

“Then came the hard part. I knew it had to be true to the film as people have all their favourite lines; ‘nobody puts baby in the corner’ and ‘I carried a watermelon’, things like that. I knew if they weren’t in there, I’d be lynched.

“It was a scary thing to take up, but equally exciting.

“I can promise you, everything you know and love from the film is in there but we also have more.”

The show tells the story of 17-year-old Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman who, in the summer of 1963, goes on holiday and discovers the raunchy world of dancer Johnny Castle.

Featuring favourite songs like Hungry Eyes and I’ve Had The Time Of My Life, it has already had two hugely successful UK tours.

The Orchard is the only theatre in Kent to host the show, which is touring until late in 2017 in 48 different towns and cities.

You can get tickets on 01322 220000 or orchardtheatre.co.uk.