Sarah Hyland Joins ‘Dirty Dancing’ Remake: ‘Modern Family’ Star Will Play Sister Of Abigail Breslin’s Baby
Modern Family star Sarah Hyland is joining the Dirty Dancing remake! ABC finally decided to look to its TV family while casting the upcoming TV movie musical, and the role that Sarah Hyland scored shouldn’t be too far out of her comfort zone.
Sarah Hyland has been cast as Lisa Houseman in the Dirty Dancing reboot, according to Deadline. Lisa is the older sister of main character Baby, who will be played by Scream Queens star Abigail Breslin. Lisa has a lot in common with Hyland’s Modern Family character, Haley Dunphy—she’s a flirtatious extrovert who is obsessed with fashion and makeup, and she can be a bit clueless at times. She also has a more intelligent, goody-two-shoes younger sister.
Dirty Dancing is set in the 1960’s at a Castkill resort where affluent families like the Housemans are trained and entertained by working-class dancers. The main focus of the movie is Baby’s relationship with dance instructor Johnny, who was played by Patrick Swayze in the 1987 film. Deadline reports that dancer/actor Colt Prattes will take on the tough task of trying to fill the beloved late actor’s very talented shoes. At least he doesn’t have to worry about what he looks like with his shirt off.
In the original Dirty Dancing movie, Sarah Hyland’s character is played by actress Jane Brucker. Lisa Houseman falls for an arrogant, womanizing waiter who two-times her, gets a dancer pregnant, and refuses to pay for her abortion. Lisa greatly overestimates her singing ability, performing the “Hula Hana” and a segment of “Kellerman’s Anthem” at a talent show.
Shortly after her big casting news was announced, Sarah Hyland took to Twitter to let her fans know that she’s going to perform the “Hula Hana.” She and Abigail Breslin also exchanged excited tweets in response to the news.
Verrrrrry exciting news guys!!!!! Now where are my dance shoes and ukelele??? https://t.co/dTWnyQxUNr
— Sarah Hyland (@Sarah_Hyland) March 2, 2016
It’s finally out! Hey there sis @yoabbaabba ? #dirtydancing
— Sarah Hyland (@Sarah_Hyland) March 2, 2016
SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ?????????????????????????????????????????? finally https://t.co/0pGCMSWzKg
— Abigail Breslin (@yoabbaabba) March 2, 2016
Sarah Hyland is definitely going to have to fake Lisa Houseman’s horrible singing voice. According to Broadway World, the actress is actually a pretty amazing singer who has showed off her vocal chops on the stage multiple times. She played Chrissy in the musical Hair at the Hollywood Bowl in 2014, and she starred as Sidney in The Unauthorized Musical Parody of Scream at the Rockwell Table and Stage.
Sarah has even belted out a tune or two on Modern Family, and she recently told ETonline that she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of recording and releasing music in the future. Interestingly, she also said that she would love for her Modern Family character to pull a Lisa Houseman by believing that she’s a better singer than she actually is.
“I’ve always had a dream that Haley auditions for, like, a singing competition show and she’s tone deaf!.” Hyland said. “But she thinks she’s like the next Britney Spears.”
“I am a singer but Haley definitely is not. I think it’d be so much fun — there would be absolutely no pressure for me and it’d be just a great day of filming!”
Sarah Hyland is the only multi-talented star who recently joined the Dirty Dancing cast. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Nicole Scherzinger has been cast as Penny, Johnny’s aforementioned dance partner who gets pregnant and decides to get an abortion. Lisa and Baby’s doctor father helps Penny after the illegal procedure is botched. Like Sarah Hyland, Nicole Scherzinger has a connection to ABC—she won Season 10 of Dancing with the Stars. There’s no word on who will be playing Dr. Jake Houseman in the Dirty Dancing remake, but it has been revealed that Debra Messing will star as Lisa and Baby’s mother, Marjorie Houseman.
The Dirty Dancing TV movie doesn’t have a premiere date yet, but ABC has let fans know that they better be ready to dedicate a large chunk of time to having the time of their lives—the musical remake will be a whopping three hours long.
Do you think Sarah Hyland was the right choice to play Lisa in the Dirty Dancing remake? And what do you think about the the rest of the TV movie’s cast so far? Sound off below!
[Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Neuro]
