J-Lo to Star in NBC’s Live ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ Production

NBC will take on Bye Bye Birdie with a live production in 2017, with Jennifer Lopez playing Rosie. Lopez will also executive produce, alongside Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Benny Medina, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.

Universal Television will produce with Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions, Storyline and Sony Pictures Television. 

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Bob Greenblatt, NBC entertainment chairman, shared the news while speaking at a Paley Media Council event in Los Angeles Thursday.

Bye Bye Birdie Live! will be based on the 1960 Broadway musical that starred Dick Van Dyke as Albert Peterson and Chita Rivera as Rosie. Bye Bye Birdie was also a feature film in 1963. 

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The story, something of an homage to a young Elvis Presley, sees rock ‘n roll heartthrob Conrad Birdie set to give a lucky small town lady “One Last Kiss” before being drafted into the army.

Conrad’s hip-thrusting ways send the town reeling, shocking the parents with moral indignation, and placing songwriter/agent Albert and savvy sweetheart Rosie right in the thick of things.
Harvey Fierstein will pen the adaptation.

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On Dec. 7 NBC will air Hairspray Live!. Next year it tackles A Few Good Men Live, with Aaron Sorkin on the production. Other live shows from NBC in recent years include The Wiz, Peter Pan and The Sound of Music.

Lopez stars in NBC cop drama Shades of Blue and is an exec producer on the network’s upcoming competition series World of Dance.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.