The season 17 cast of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars will include Broadway vets Corbin Bleu, Valerie Harper and Elizabeth Berkley, as well as Glee star Amber Riley. The complete lineup of 12 contestants was announced on the September 4 edition of Good Morning America.
Harper, a 2011 Tony nominee for Looped, will be partnered with Irish dancer Tristan MacManus. The 74-year-old star has been battling inoperable brain cancer since March, but received her doctors' blessing to appear on DWTS. Bleu, a High School Musical favorite who made his Broadway debut in In the Heights, is set to dance with fellow Main Stem vet Karina Smirnoff (Forever Tango). Berkley, who appeared on Broadway in Sly Fox and is best known for TV’s Saved By the Bell, is partnered with Val Chmerkovskiy. Riley will dance with four-time winner and reigning champion Derek Hough.
Also set to take the dance floor are reality stars Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Jack Osbourne, Super Bowl champ Keyshawn Johnson, actress Leah Remini, actor Brant Daugherty, pop singer Christina Milian, comedian Bill Engvall and Bill Nye (the Science Guy, not the British stage star).
Dancing With the Stars premieres on September 16.