They danced and sang their way into people’s hearts on TV screen across the U.S. and beyond, and now the singers and dancers of the shows American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance are right here in Patchogue Village.
And now you’ll get to see them live, thanks to The Gateway, in a show that recreates — and reimagines — some of film history’s most iconic dance scenes.
There are actually two former Idol contestants taking the stage at Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts through Sunday, Aug. 14, for “Dance to the Movies.”
Those are Vonzell Solomon of Fort Meyers, Fla., and Von Smith of Kansas City, Mo.
Solomon made it to the Top 3 on American Idol in 2005, when the show was in its fourth season, with nearly 30 million people were tuning in each week.
Carrie Underwood went onto win that year’s contest, beating out Bo Bice.
“When I was on the American Idol summer tour, we were all from the same season, but we now get to bring different seasons together, and make friends,” Solomon said after a full rehearsal at Patchogue Theatre on Wednesday.
She’ll be joined often on stage by Smith, who’s appeared in Patchogue twice before.
He made it to the Top 17 on American Idol in 2008.
“We’re the only singers out of a huge cast of dancers,” Smith explained. “This is a dancing show that we are an accent in. So it is different for us. We usually tour with musicians in our own careers. This is more theatrical vibe for both of us.”
The cast will reenact iconic dances from the movies Grease, Chicago, Singin’ in the Rain, West Side Story and Moulin Rouge. There will also be new dance numbers to music from the films Dirty Dancing, Titanic, The Matrix and Harry Potter.
The show also features Dancing with the Stars celebrity pros Tristan MacManus, Chelsie Hightower, Lacey Schwimmer, Jonathan Roberts and Karina Smirnoff.
Academy Award nominated film and television star Lesley Ann Warren is guest starring.
Warren, who grew up in New York City, said she had never visited Patchogue before.
“It’s charming,” she said. “I took a walk yesterday and got to see some of the shops and restaurants. It really is adorable.”
For the shows in Patchogue, she’ll be singing Moon River and Blues in the Night, which she belted out on Broadway 20 years ago in the show “Dream,” inspired by the works of writer Johnny Mercer. She hasn’t sung them since.
“Since it’s Dance to the Movies, and these songs were both in movies it made sense to do them,” she said. “But they did a reimagining of the numbers, so it’s very different.”
