A YOUNG TV actress is playing the iconic role of Baby Houseman as hit movie Dirty Dancing comes to the stage in Bradford.

Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage will star Jessie Hart as the girl who comes of age at a summer camp during the 1960s.

Jessie recently graduated from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, and has since played Agnes in the ITV drama Arthur and George and the lead role of Gerda in The Snow Queen at the Nuffield Theatre.

Jessie will star opposite Lewis Kirk in the role of Johnny Castle, the older dance teacher that Baby falls in love with while practising for a dance competition.

Lewis was as a member of the 2014/15 touring company of the Dirty Dancing show and has previously performed in musicals Hairspray, Our House and Soho Cinders.

Dirty Dancing –The Classic Story On Stage originally opened at London’s Aldwych Theatre in 2006 with a record-breaking advance of £15 million, making it the fastest-selling show in West End theatre history.

The production played to more than two million people during its five-year run, then went on the road in 2011, taking £42,000,000 at theatres across the country, and receiving standing ovations and five-star reviews,

The show was written by Eleanor Bergstein, scriptwriter of the hugely successful 1987 film, and features the much-loved characters and original dialogue from the movie, with extra scenes added in.

The show promises the tantalising dance sequences of the film along with new choreography, with songs from the original soundtrack like Do You Love Me?, Hungry Eyes and the Academy Award-winning (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life.

The cast in Bradford also includes Lori Haley Fox, Georgina Castle, Kane Verrall and Matthew Colthart.

The show is at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford, from July 7-25. Visit bradford-theatres.co.uk or call 01274 432000 to book tickets.