The 1987 classicDirty Dancingwill be heading to the small screen through a new partnership with ABC and Lionsgate TV, with a new three-hour musical adaptation starringAbigail Breslinas Baby.Deadlinereports that the project is expected to get an official green light from ABC after one more role is cast, most likely the Johnny Castle role, originally played byPatrick Swayze. It isn’t known if the production is close to casting their Johnny Castle yet.
Unlike NBC’sThe Wiz Live!, which aired last week, and Fox’s upcomingGrease: Live, ABC isn’t planning a live rendition ofDirty Dancing. This musical adaptation will be taped prior to the broadcast, much like Fox’s upcomingThe Rocky Horror Picture Show Event, which is slated to debut sometime next year. Since ABC hasn’t officially given a green light yet, it isn’t known when production will begin at this time.
Jennifer Greystarred as Baby in theoriginal movie, which was set in the 1960s in a Catskill Mountain resort. The story followed her romance with Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze), a dance instructor at the resort Baby and her family stayed in. The supporting cast includes Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes, Jack Weston, Jane Brucker, Kelly Bishop and Lonny Price. The movie earned $63 million domestic and $213.9 million worldwide from just a $6 million production budget.
Wayne Blair (The Sapphires) is directing the adaptation from a script by Jessica Sharzer (Scream Queens). Tony winner Andy Blankenbuehler, who most recently choreographed the hit Broadway musicalHamilton, is on board as choreographer. Allison Shearmur is producing alongside Eleanor Bergstein, who wrote the script for the originalDirty Dancing, withAdam Andersand Judy Cairo producing.
The original classic also spawned a short-livedDirty DancingTV series in 1988, which starred Patrick Cassidy and Melora Hardin as Johnny and Baby, along with filmmakerPaul Feigas Norman Bryant. The movie also spawned the 2004 follow-upDirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Lionsgate had also been developing aDirty Dancingtheatricalreboot, which hadKenny Ortegaattached to direct, but that was put on hold in 2012. What do you think aboutDirty Dancingcoming to the small screen with a three-hour musical?
