‘Dancing’ again
TV remake brings Baby and Co.’s moves to a new generation
Feast your hungry eyes on ABC’s remake of Baby and Johnny’s ‘Dirty’ story
Nobody puts Baby in a corner, but they do put her on ABC.
Dirty Dancing is returning with another update Wednesday, three decades after the blockbuster’s initial release.
The pop-culture staple sets a sturdy foundation for ABC’s three-hour remake (Wednesday, 8 ET/PT). A permed Abigail Breslin, in high-waisted jeans, leads the ensemble cast as Frances “Baby” Houseman, with newcomer Colt Prattes as Johnny Castle, the role played by Patrick Swayze in the 1987 film.
While most of the original’s framework remains, the remake expands the Dancing world, giving deeper storylines to Baby’s mom and sister, Marjorie and Lisa Houseman (Debra Messing and Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland, respectively), and adding new songs from the era.
The new film starts off in 1975, as Baby walks into Dirty Dancing:
The Musical, before flashing back to 1963 — the summer she visits the fictional Kellerman’s in New York’s Catskill Mountains with her family. At 21, Breslin is just six years younger than Jennifer Grey was when the first film was released.
Prattes does double duty as instructor Johnny Castle. Unlike Swayze, he not only dances but also sings in three of the remake’s musical numbers.
The first movie inspired a nation to practice gravity-defying lifts in pools across the county, and its music served as a soundtrack to the summer of 1987 (and many thereafter). Songs including ( I’ve Had) The Time of My Life, Hungry Eyes and She’s Like the Wind return in revamped versions from American Authors, Lady Antebellum and others. While it didn’t earn glowing reviews, Dancing grossed $64 mil- lion in the U.S. on an estimated $6 million budget. Critics commended Grey’s performance, as well as the film’s bold treatment of an abortion storyline — also in-
cluded in the remake — for Johnny’s strong-willed dance partner Penny, now played by Nicole Scherzinger. Nodding to the classic, Dirty
Dancing does what many of its previous remakes (including a short-lived 1988 TV series and 2004’s Dirty Dancing: Havana
Nights) failed to do — stays basically true to form.
Though the story gets a few tweaks, awkward watermelon deliveries, mambo dance breaks and that iconic dance lift remain intact.
After watching ABC’s re-creation, if you haven’t had the time of your life, you’ll be longing for a re-watch of the original.