PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 13: Actress Jennifer Lopez arrives at the 2016 Winter TCA Tour - NBCUniversal Press Tour at Langham Hotel on January 13, 2016 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Angela Weiss/Getty Images)

Jennifer Lopez to Headline NBC’s Bye Bye Birdie Live!

PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 13:  Actress Jennifer Lopez arrives at the 2016 Winter TCA Tour - NBCUniversal Press Tour  at Langham Hotel on January 13, 2016 in Pasadena, California.  (Photo by Angela Weiss/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 13: Actress Jennifer Lopez arrives at the 2016 Winter TCA Tour – NBCUniversal Press Tour at Langham Hotel on January 13, 2016 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Angela Weiss/Getty Images)

Jennifer Lopez loves to keep busy. Now the actress and singer is putting both of her talents together and joining NBC for Bye Bye Birdie Live! Tony winner Harvey Fierstein will pen the teleplay adaptation for the broadcast; he also wrote and will co-star in Hairspray Live! for NBC on December 7.

“Broadway musicals and films fueled my childhood and Bye Bye Birdie was one of my favorites,” said Lopez in a statement. “I’m proud to be a part of the NBC family with Shades of Blue and I thought it would be a blast to take on one of their big live musicals.”

Bye Bye Birdie Live! will be based on the 1960 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical that starred Dick Van Dyke as Albert Peterson (earning Van Dyke a Tony) and Chita Rivera as Rosie.

Set at the height of rock ’n’ roll, Bye Bye Birdie takes us to Sweet Apple, Ohio, where hip-thrusting music heartthrob Conrad Birdie is scheduled to give a lucky Sweet Apple lady “One Last Kiss” before being drafted into the Army. Conrad’s rock ’n’ roll ways send the small town reeling, giving the teens Birdie fever, shocking the parents with moral indignation, and placing songwriter/agent Albert Peterson along with his savvy sweetheart, Rosie, right in the thick of things. The story was inspired by the incredible popularity of Elvis Presley and his induction into the Army in 1957.

JLO will star as Rosie and executive produce with her producing partners Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Benny Medina alongside Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.

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