A group of protestors who held a demonstration on the steps of a Wimbledon theatre against a production of Dirty Dancing have said their protest was a success.

The Musicians' Union (MU) have heavily criticised the theatre adaptation of the hit 1980’s film, arguing against the lack of live musicians and the high level of pre-recorded music in the current tour.

September 26: Protest planned at Dirty Dancing's opening night at the New Wimbledon Theatre against lack of live musicians

Around 12 members of the MU joined a protest held at the opening night of the musical at the New Wimbledon Theatre on Monday, September 28, where they spoke to theatre goers and gave out leaflets and red stickers with the words ‘Keep Music Live’.

London regional organiser for the MU, Jo Laverty, said: “It was really good. We had a great chat with the majority of theatre goers.  At one point there was a sea of people with our red stickers on.

“There were a lot of people who had seen the show previously on the West End and were very shocked to hear about the decision to reduce the number of live musicians and use backing tracks.

“We have no issue at all with the theatre. We are in a dispute with the producer, and a lot of people gave us their support.”

The New Wimbledon Theatre declined to comment but tweeted their support of the production.

The MU say they are concerned that this latest production of Dirty Dancing features just five musicians – rather than the usual live band of eight to ten musicians – and uses a large amount of pre-recorded music made outside of the UK, which the MU argue makes it hard to tell if musicians have been fairly paid for their work.

However, one of the co-producers of Dirty Dancing, Paul Elliott, has spoken out against the MU’s stance and accused them of effectively ‘blackmailing’ the production into re-recording their music with members of the UK union.

In a statement, Mr Elliott said: “Dirty Dancing is a play with music; we do not in our own material refer to the production as a “musical” and always request that it is not advertised as such. None of the leading characters sing and the music is used as ‘underscoring’ so as to reflect the use of music as in the film.

“Many other shows have used tracks on tour – and many without employing any live musicians – without their producers suffering any of the current actions of the MU towards Dirty Dancing.”

Dirty Dancing plays at the New Wimbledon Theatre from September 26 to October 1.

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