Abigail Breslin and Debra Messing have already been announced for the roles of Baby and Marjorie Houseman in ABC’s Dirty Dancing 3-hour special event movie. Today ABC announced dancer Colt Prattes will partner up with Breslin, filling the iconic role of Johnny made famous by Patrick Swayze.
Prattes has appeared in Broadway productions of West Side Story, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, as most recently appeared as the lead in Las Vegas show Rock of Ages. But he’s best known for this tough performance opposite Pink in the video for her song “Try.”
He also performed on the singer’s “The Truth About Love” tour and during her appearances at the 2014 Grammy and American Music Awards.
According to THR Dancing will be produced by Allison Shearmur Productions with a script by Jessica Sharzer (American Horror Story) and music by Adam Anders and Peer Astrom (Glee). Wayne Blair (The Sapphires) will direct with Andy Blankenbuehler heading up choreography.
I just don’t think they’re ever going to create anything as memorable for Abigail Breslin to do as this:
Networks have been dabbling in live musical productions recently with performances of The Sound of Music, Peter Pan and The Wiz on NBC, and Grease: Live! on Fox. The shows tend to draw big ratings but mixed reviews for production and performance. ABC has opted to stick with the more traditional, filmed format for Dancing.