The food, the games and, of course, the dancing at Kellerman’s coming to Fayetteville next week. Kellerman’s is the 1963 summer location. It’s the setting for “Dirty Dancing,” the movie now, the movie with the iconic music, the warning that nobody puts Baby in a corner and that leap and catch.
Now a touring musical, the national tour will be at Walton Arts Center for eight performances beginning Wednesday night. In both the film and stage version, Kellerman’s is operated by Max Kellerman, and for this national tour, Loren Lester embodies Max Kellerman.
Lester: He’s the owner of the hotel, and everyone there is either his guest or his employee, so he’s really a father figure to all of the employees that are there. And he’s also a fun-loving host to all the guests.
The character dances with the guests and sings along with the guests and just has a great, great time along with them, while at the same time running this big operation.
Kellams: There is a sense of nostalgia, of course. “Dirty Dancing,” the film came out, I don’t know, a couple decades after it was set. And I think there was this idea, especially for those of us who lived in the middle of the country, that a place like Camp Kellerman must have been magical. Did you know anyone who spent time at a camp like that?
Lester: Well, it’s not really a camp. What it is, is a luxury hotel.
Kellams: Gotcha.
Lester: There were many, many places where Jewish people could go for vacationing. And some of them were small camp-like operations. But this one, Kellerman’s is based on this hotel called Grossinger’s, which was this very big lavish hotel where people went and everything was included. The food, the entertainment, everything. And people would go in the summer to escape the heat of New York City.
So my mother and my grandmother both worked at a hotel, one of these luxury hotels called the Concord. And my grandmother was a chef and my mother was an associate dance teacher.
So that really rings true to me, this whole story, because it’s about a girl who falls in love with her dance teacher, and everybody at the Concord was in love with this dance teacher. His name was Chichi. And my mother was his assistant.
Kellams: Oh my gosh, the stories I imagine from just those summers that she must have had.
Lester: Oh, she had an incredible stories. One of her favorite stories, my grandmother made this delicious dish called baked herring. It’s very hard to find these days, but it’s very, very rich and you can’t eat too much of it because it’s so rich and delicious. And at the hotel, you could have as much food as you wanted. It was unlimited eating.
And so this man ordered a second helping and they sent him a second helping. And then he ordered a third helping. And my grandmother actually came out of the kitchen and said, “I know you love my dish. Thank you. But I really don’t recommend you having a third helping.” And he said, “No, I get to eat as much as I want.” So he had the third helping and they had to call an ambulance.
Kellams: There you go. As you mentioned, Max Kellerman is the owner. He’s sort of this fun-loving guy. And I’m wondering, does any of that sort of in any way ring true for you with, you’re on this national tour and a lot of the cast members are younger. Do you think anyone sees you in that kind of role off the stage?
Lester: Well, I think what’s really great about this cast is, I am the elder statesman by a long shot in the cast for sure. But all of us, regardless of age, we all hang out together and we all have a great time together. I had a birthday party recently and the entire cast came and it was just great.
So there’s no feeling like, “Oh, let’s not deal with the old man” or anything like that. No. This cast is one of the warmest, loveliest casts I’ve ever, maybe the most warmest, loveliest cast I’ve ever been in.
Kellams: Because it’s so iconic and there are some iconic moments, can you feel anticipation in the audience as you’re approaching, whether it’s an iconic line or an iconic dance move?
Lester: Absolutely. And our audiences know them all. And so right from the very beginning, like in the very beginning, one of the characters comes out carrying watermelons and the crowd just erupts in applause, and some of the famous lines get applause and cheers.
And the final dance number, of course, people are anticipating for the whole show and they just go crazy over that because that’s what they want to see and they see it.
The show is very, very true to the movie. If you love the movie, you love the stage show. And if you’ve never seen the movie, you’ll love the stage show. And also I’ll add, if you’ve seen the movie, there are some things in it that you have not seen before that have been added to the stage show.
Kellams: I finally want to ask about your family because you have a family of amazing performers, actors, stand-up, dancers. I would imagine that is quite the supportive atmosphere for you, your daughters and your wife.
Lester: Oh, very much so. And I’m just so proud of them. My daughters have three daughters. They all work in this wonderful business of show, we call it. And one daughter has been nominated for a Tony Award. And one is, as you said, a really successful stand-up comic.
And another is, as well as being an actress, she’s going to be on “Elsbeth,” the new episode of “Elsbeth.” As well as being an actress, she’s also a filmmaker. She directed her first feature and she was actually in Bentonville recently for the film festival there. And her film was shown there.
Kellams: That’s fantastic.
Lester: I’m very, very proud of them. And my wife too. My wife is a wonderful stage and television actress. And we’re all from Los Angeles, and we moved to New York in 2018, and it changed everything for us.
We’ve all been working quite a bit constantly and doing the things that we love, the kind of work that we love. And it was all about moving to New York to find that kind of work.
Kellams: Loren Lester is Max Kellerman in the national touring production of “Dirty Dancing.” The national touring musical will be at Walton Arts Center for eight performances Wednesday night through Sunday night.
Loren Lester is a familiar face through his scores of film, television and stage roles, but he’s also a very familiar voice to millions as Robin in programs like “Batman: The Animated Series.”
I imagine because of your voice work, there are some people who recognize your voice, but perhaps not your face.
Lester: Yeah, I often have people at the stage door with Batman memorabilia asking me to sign that because they know I’m going to be there. So they hunt me down. So, yeah. And I have been to Little Rock for a comic con. That’s the closest I’ve ever been to Fayetteville. But I do comic cons all over the country. I’m going to be doing one in Albuquerque next January when I finally have a break from the tour for a week.
But yes, people do. Absolutely. And if they don’t right away, when they find out who I am, they’re kind of bowled over because it was such an important part of their childhood that that show was just, it really was a defining part of people who grew up in, since the ’90s.
We have three generations of fans now, the original fans from the ’90s, their children. And in some cases, people have brought their grandchildren who have watched the show.
Kellams: And I imagine you have multi-generations in the audience for “Dirty Dancing” as well.
Lester: Absolutely. And we have the people who the movie is so important nostalgia-wise for them. And they’re coming with their younger children, their teenage children, their 20-year-old children. And yes, we have all the generations.
Kellams: Our conversation with Loren Lester recorded yesterday.
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