An adaptation of hit 1987 movie "Dirty Dancing" is heading to the small screen. ABC is turning the famous flick into a taped TV musical that will star "Scream Queens" and "Little Miss Sunshine" actress Abigail Breslin, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The new made-for-television movie from Lionsgate TV is described as a three-hour event with a script written by Jessica Sharzer, an Emmy-nominated writer from "American Horror Story." There will be filmed song and dance performances with Breslin taking on the iconic role of Baby, originally played by Jennifer Grey. Baby is described as "an innocent young woman in the early 1960s who vacations with her affluent parents and siblings in the Catskill Mountains and falls for the resort's working-class dance instructor," according to Entertainment Weekly.
There is no casting information for the dance instructor, who was famously played in the film by the late Patrick Swayze.
The project will be executively produced by Allison Shearmur and Eleanor Bergstein, who also wrote the screenplay for the original film. The music will be done by Adam Anders and Peer Astrom, while "Hamilton" choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler will helm the dance numbers.
Lionsgate had reportedly been looking for a way to adapt "Dirty Dancing" for a while now, according to Deadline. It was supposed to be rebooted as a feature film, but the project was put on hold in 2012. A sequel to the film, "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights," was released in 2004, and there is also a stage musical version.
The news of ABC's "Dirty Dancing" TV musical comes on the heels of both NBC and FOX heavily investing in TV musicals. One major difference between the "Dirty Dancing" musical is that it will not be live like NBC's "The Wiz Live!" or Fox's upcoming "Grease Live."
A premiere date for ABC's "Dirty Dancing" has not yet been announced.
