NBC has set its holiday 2017 live musical: “Bye Bye Birdie,” starring Jennifer Lopez. NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt made the announcement Thursday night during a Paley Center panel. “She came to us and said, ‘I love this movie and I’d love to do it,’” the exec revealed during the 45-minute discussion.

    “Broadway musicals and films fueled my childhood and ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ was one of my favorites. 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,” Lopez said in a statement.

    The singer-actress-producer will star as Rosie and executive produce the Universal Television live musical alongside Nuyorican Productions’ Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and her manager, Benny Medina. Also set to exec produce are NBC’s live musical masterminds Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. The production will be written by Harvey Fierstein, who also wrote and will costar in the network’s upcoming holiday live musical “Hairspray.”

    NBC’s “Bye Bye Birdie Live” will be based on the 1960 Tony-winning Broadway musical that starred Dick Van Dyke as Albert Peterson and Chita Rivera as Rosie. The book was written by Michael Stewart with lyrics by Lee Adams and music by Charles Strouse. Van Dyke took home a Tony for the role, while Rivera scored a nomination. The play was adapted into a 1963 Golden Globe-nominated feature film starring Van Dyke and Janet Leigh as Rosie. The film helped propel Ann-Margret, who played Kim MacAfee, to stardom.

    Set at the height of rock ’n’ roll, “Bye Bye Birdie” takes place in 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 Elvis Presley and his induction into the Army in 1957.

    (SD-Agencies)