Nicole Scherzinger to play Penny in Dirty Dancing TV remake

She'll join Abigail Breslin and Debra Messing in ABC's television adaptation of the classic film

Former Pussycat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger has signed on for the role of Penny in ABC's television remake of Dirty Dancing.

Deadline reports she'll be joining the already cast dancing lovers embarking on the time of their lives: Abigail Breslin's Baby and Coles Prattes' Johnny.

Fans will know Penny to be Johnny's former dance partner, a role originally played by Cynthia Rhodes; whose spot Baby fills for the resort's weekly dance performance after she departs to have an abortion, which Baby herself selflessly secures the money for.

Debra Messing is also set to star as Majorie Houseman, mother to Frances "Baby" Houseman.

The three-hour television film returns to the quaint '60s setting of the 1987 original; as the affluent Baby crosses paths with working-class Johnny while vacationing in the Catskills.

Scherzinger returns to television after guest appearances on How I Met Your Mother and Wizards of Waverly Place. She's also currently in talks to reprise her Olivier-nominated role as Grizabella in the Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats.