Julianne Hough, Aaron Tveit and Vanessa Hudgens star in "Grease: Live!"

The winter doldrums may have TV viewers reaching for the remote to binge watch their favorite cable and Netflix series, but Fox has some "summer loving" to heat up prime time. Its long-awaited three-hour production "Grease: Live" premieres Sunday, Jan. 31.

Based on both the 1971 Broadway play by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey and 1978 feature film, Fox's version of the iconic musical tells the story of goody-two-shoes Sandy, who transfers to Rydell High after a 1950s summer romance with "greaser" Danny Zuko. Unfortunately for her, Danny tries to play it cool around his T-Bird buddies and brushes her off when he runs into her at school. A devastated Sandy is comforted by her new friends, the Pink Ladies. What follows is a rousing will-they-won't-they romance soundtracked by some of the most memorable songs ever written.

Plans for "Grease: Live" were announced in April 2014, when Fox executive Shana C. Waterman boasted: "Its iconic characters and addictive songs make it the perfect fit for Fox, and we're going to give it the kind of star power and production quality to make every Sandy, Danny, Rizzo and Kenickie out there want to get up and sing along."

By February 2015, Fox had delivered on the promise of star power by casting dance sensation Julianne Hough ("Dancing With the Stars") as Sandy and Vanessa Hudgens ("High School Musical") as bad girl Rizzo. Pop star and burgeoning actress Carly Rae Jepsen ("Canadian Idol") has since signed on to play Frenchy, while Kether Donohue ("You're the Worst") and Keke Palmer ("Scream Queens") portray fellow Pink Ladies Jan and Marty, respectively.

Broadway actor and "Gossip Girl" alum Aaron Tveit has been cast as Danny, with David Del Rio ("The Troop") and Carlos PenaVega ("Big Time Rush") as T-Birds Putzie and Kenickie. In a surprise casting move, the Grammy-winning musical group Boyz II Men are set to serenade Frenchy with "Beauty School Drop Out" as three angelic advisers instead of a single Teen Angel.

Singer-songwriter Jessie J, while not part of the main cast, appears in the show performing a rendition of Barry Gibb's "Grease (Is the Word)."

It's a cast mostly composed of young Hollywood up-and-comers, not unlike the cast of the original 1978 film, which included Olivia Newton-John ("Xanadu," 1980) and John Travolta ("Saturday Night Fever," 1977) in career-defining roles. However, Newton-John and Travolta didn't face the added challenge of performing the entire musical live in front of millions of television viewers. Hough, for one, seems undaunted.

"'Grease' is one of the movies that made me want to be an entertainer, and I have literally been waiting my whole life to play Sandy," she explained. "This is my dream role, and performing it live on television will be one of the most thrilling opportunities I've had in my career so far."

Keke Palmer as seen in "Grease: Live!"

In addition to a career in the country music industry, the four-time "Dancing With the Stars" champion has appeared in the movie musicals "Footloose" (2011) and "Rock of Ages" (2012).

Hudgens isn't exactly a rookie when it comes to musicals, either. "Grease: Live's" Rizzo rose to fame as Gabriella Montez in Disney Channel's highly successful High School Musical series of films. She also appeared on Broadway in the title role of the musical "Gigi" in 2015.

As Danny Zuko, Tveit may not be as instantly recognizable as his two main female co-stars, but he has a bevy of theatrical experience. He originated the roles of Gabe in "Next to Normal" and Frank Abagnale Jr. in "Catch Me If You Can" on Broadway, and has appeared in such musicals as "Rent," "Hairspray" and "Wicked."

They may go together like "rama lamma lamma ka dinga da dinga dong," but it remains to be seen how the new cast will stack up to the beloved cast of the 1978 musical, which was the highest-grossing movie musical ever with almost $400 million in worldwide sales.

Luckily for fans of the genre, television seems to be the place for musicals lately. NBC kicked off the trend with a live version of "The Sound of Music" in December 2013, which attracted more than 18 million viewers. The peacock network followed it up with "Peter Pan Live" in 2014 and, more recently, with the critically acclaimed "The Wiz Live" this past December.

Interestingly, it looks as if "Grease: Live" won't be Fox's only foray into the live TV musical trend. The network is already making plans for a prime-time version of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," starring Laverne Cox ("Orange Is the New Black"), Victoria Justice ("Victorious") and Ryan McCartan ("Liv and Maddie") and set to air in fall of 2016.

Until then, fans can "shoobop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom" right along with the cast of "Grease: Live," airing Sunday, Jan. 31, on Fox.