Interview with Melissa Firlit

Some films become more than just movies; they become treasured memories that stay with us for a lifetime. Dirty Dancer takes one of cinema's most beloved classics and transforms it into a joyous, laugh-out-loud theatrical celebration, proving that parody works best when it comes from a place of genuine affection. Ahead of bringing the show to this year's Edinburgh Fringe, I caught up with creator and performer Melissa Firlit to chat about revisiting Dirty Dancing, taking on every character alone, and why audiences don't need to know every line of the original film to have the time of their lives.

I'd love to start at the beginning. What first inspired you to create Dirty Dancer, and why did Dirty Dancing feel like the perfect film to parody? 

I never set out to parody Dirty Dancing. I set out to understand why one film had stayed with me for so long.

Growing up, it was my happy place. I wanted to spend one perfect summer at Kellerman's, like Baby did. As a child, I didn’t understand all the complexities of the story. I just knew it made me feel something.

As I got older, every time I returned to it, I discovered something new: class, sexuality, ambition, first love, impossible choices. Dirty Dancer grew out of that conversation between who I was then and who I am now.

Parody became the perfect form because it's rooted in love. It lets me celebrate the film, laugh with it, and explore why it continues to resonate across generations.

Dirty Dancing has such a devoted fanbase. Did that feel exciting, terrifying, or perhaps a little bit of both when you first started writing the show? 

Both, but mostly exciting.

The people who love Dirty Dancing have an incredibly personal relationship with it. So do I. That meant I never felt like I was making a show about the film. I was making a show about what it feels like to love the film.

I wanted to celebrate why so many of us have carried it with us for decades. Once I realized the show was coming from that place of affection, the excitement became much bigger than the fear.

Performing every character on your own is an incredible challenge. At what point did I realise that was actually possible? 

I don't know if I ever did!

At some point I realized I wasn't trying to perform every character realistically: I was inviting the audience to imagine them with me.

I was telling the story through the eyes of the kid who fell in love with the film. That perspective became the engine for every character.

The original film is full of iconic moments that audiences know by heart. How did you decide which scenes absolutely had to stay and which could be completely reinvented? 

I kept asking myself one question: "Am I keeping this because audiences need it- or because I do?"

Sometimes those answers matched. Sometimes they didn't.

The moments that have become part of our shared cultural memory absolutely belong in the show. What interested me even more was recreating the feeling of those moments rather than simply copying them. Nostalgia isn't about perfect accuracy. It's about emotion.

Audiences often arrive already knowing the story. Does that shared knowledge give me more freedom to play with expectations? 

One hundred percent. I think the audience is my scene partner. They know what's supposed to happen, so I get to tease them, surprise them, skip ahead, slow things down, and let their imaginations fill in the rest.

If someone has never seen Dirty Dancing would they still enjoy Dirty Dancer? 

Absolutely. Someone who's seen the film a hundred times will catch different jokes than someone who's never seen it, but that's the beauty of theatre.

At its heart, it's about storytelling, imagination, and one performer trying to create an entire cinematic world live onstage. I think that's fun whether you've seen Dirty Dancing or not.

Was there one character you found myself connecting with more than you had expected during the creative process? 

Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) surprised me. As a kid, he was the dream. As an adult, I see how much responsibility he's carrying and how often he's judged before anyone gets to know him. Playing him made me realize he's not just the romantic lead, he's someone trying to protect the people he loves while finding his own place in the world.

Looking back over the entire creative journey, what has been the proudest moment for you? 

Realizing that something so personal could become something shared.

This started with memories of me in the living room pressing play again and again. Now it’s become a piece of theatre that invites complete strangers to revisit their own memories alongside mine.

That’s one of the great gifts of theatre. We arrive with different lives and leave having shared the same experience.

Beyond making people laugh, what do you hope audiences take away from the show? 

I hope they leave thinking about the stories that shaped them before they fully understood why.

We all have a movie, an album, a book, or a story that made us feel more alive and expanded the way we saw the world long before we had the language to explain it.

If Dirty Dancer reminds someone of that feeling, and encourages them to revisit it, I'll be very happy.

Once audiences leave the theatre, what's the conversation you hope they're still having on the walk home? 

I’d love them to start telling each other stories:

“When did you first see Dirty Dancing?”

“What was your version of Kellerman’s?”

“What story did you watch over and over again as a kid?”

If the show sparks that conversation, then it's done something much bigger than simply recreate a beloved film.

Finally, if you had just thirty seconds to convince someone to book a ticket for Dirty Dancer, what would you say? 

Come have the time of your life. Whether you're a lifelong Dirty Dancing fan or you've never seen the movie, come laugh, cheer, sing, remember, and maybe even get lifted. For one hour, we'll build Kellerman's together, and I promise you'll leave smiling.

A huge thank you to Melissa for taking the time to chat with me about Dirty Dancer. It's clear this is much more than a parody; it's a heartfelt love letter to storytelling, nostalgia and the films that quietly shape who we become. Packed with imagination, infectious humour and plenty of theatrical magic, it promises to delight lifelong Dirty Dancing fans while welcoming newcomers with open arms. Dirty Dancer is at the Edinburgh Fringe at Underbelly Cowgate from 5 – 30 Aug (not 18) at 19:25 pm. Ticket information here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/dirty-dancer