'Cheers' is coming to a stage near you

Soon you'll be able to spend a night with Sam, Diane, Norm and Carla.

Everett Collection

Soon enough, your town may have a bar where everyone knows your name.

We're talking about Cheers, of course. The popular TV show that dominated the ratings in the 1980s is being adapted into a play that is set for a national tour this fall.

Cheers Live on Stage, written by Erik Forrest Jackson, is a comedy based on some of the funniest moments from the show's first season. All of the bartenders, waiters and patrons will be included, although different actors will portray them.

Because of the focus on the first season, characters like Woody, Frasier and Rebecca won't be stopping by. 

In order to create the play, Jackson meticulously went over the scripts from the first season. He also sat down and watched each episode not once, not twice, but nine times. That's just under 100 hours of television.

"I took season one of Cheers and put it all into a big pot and cooked it up and boiled it down," Jackson told the Associated Press. "The main through-line is the relationship between Sam and Diane but done in a way so it feels fresh."

The set will be almost identical to the fictional bar. For some lucky fans, there's an opportunity for audience members to get involved and become bar patrons. Producers also plan to utilize the original theme music.

"This is almost like a sacred text," Jackson said. "I can infuse it with new life and energy, but I have to be respectful of the original."

Cheers Live on Stage will debut in the show's hometown of Boston this September and run through the spring of 2017. After premiering at the Shubert in Boston, September 9–18, the show heads to the Broadway Playhouse in Chicago, September 20–October 23, before embarking on a national tour.

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