Fox's A Christmas Story casts Maya Rudolph, gets premiere date

Casting for Fox’s next live musical A Christmas Story is underway!

As announced at the Television Critics Association’s press tour on Tuesday, Saturday Night Live alum Maya Rudolph is the first to join the three-hour live television event, tapped to play the mother of 9-year-old Ralphie Parker, who has not yet been cast. Melinda Dillon originated the role of the mother in the 1983 holiday classic.

An adaptation of the film — as well as the Tony Award-nominated Broadway production that opened in 2012 — also snagged a premiere date: Sunday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. ET on Fox. The event, which will be live on East Coast and tape-delayed for the West Coast, will be filmed at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.

La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who scored Broadway’s A Christmas Story: The Musical, will compose several new songs, with Jonathan Tolins and Robert Cary (Grease: Live) adapting the book.