Dirty Dancing’s Remake Has All the Iconic Lines, But Will It Succeed?
The first sneak peek at the ABC remake of Dirty Dancing has begun circulating, and while it may have the time of its life, the quality remains to be seen.
Late next month, Dirty Dancing will return to screens. No, we don’t mean movie screens, though it is the film’s 30th anniversary, so you may want to never say never on that. Instead, ABC has decided to get in on the remake or musical game popularized by NBC’s live TV versions of Broadway musicals. Fox has already emulated this to varying degrees of success. But ABC hasn’t selected the musical version of Dirty Dancing. Instead, they’re going the movie route, with the premiere set for May 24.
People magazine has the thirty-second sneak peek, which we fully expect to start circulating soon on the network. You can check it out below:
With Tony-Award-winner Andy Blankenbuehler (and yes, he did win for Hamilton: An American Musical, something that the promo does casually mention to snag that coveted millennial audience) handling the choreography, that isn’t a concern.
Interestingly, the promo also calls it “the musical for a new era.” At the same time, though, it has retained the ’60s setting of the original film. Using “Do You Love Me” should tip a listener off right away. Additionally, the promo doesn’t shy away from “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.” We get to hear Colt Prattes say “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” They even throw in the lift for good measure. With that and the new version of the original poster, the promo has basically played on nostalgia instead.
Interestingly, the People article also mentions that this take will follow Johnny Castle and Baby Houseman after the end of the season. (They have three hours to fill. Can you blame them?) But why? Dirty Dancing has a dance party at the end, and that’s about it. Will we have a Grease-style rekindling of a romance afterward?
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Maybe Baby doesn’t belong in a corner, but we’ll have to see if this remake does.