Remembering Whitney Houston: Deborah Cox Revamps Rachel Role for 'The Bodyguard' Musical

Just one day shy of what would've been Whitney Houston's 53rd birthday, People announced the musical adaptation of the icon's first major film project, The Bodyguard, gearing up for its national tour, with Deborah Cox cast in the revamped role of Rachel Marron.

Whitney Houston's on-screen presence will always be remembered for her roles in films like The Preacher's Wife, Waiting to Exhale, and her final big screen performance in the August 2012 remake of Sparkle, released just six months after her untimely death in February of 2012.

Houston's Sparkle character shared a similar interest to that of Marron, Houston's character in her first starring role in a major motion picture -- The Bodyguard. Both portrayals tapped into Houston's real life profession as a singer but Marron's was more comparable to Houston's true status and notoriety as a widely successful singer.

The film, co-starring Kevin Costner, allowed Houston to shatter any doubts surrounding her abilities as an actor or her abilities as a vocalist, proven on the film's soundtrack. Now, according to People, Cox will yet again lend her powerful vocals to deliver and capture the true essence of Houston's vocal range as she did for the 2015 Lifetime biopic, Whitney.

The publication's tweet announcing the stage musical came just one day before the superstar's Aug. 9 birthday when she would have been 53.

The musical will include a collection of Houston's soundtrack classics and career hits like "I'm Your Baby Tonight," "Saving All My Love," "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," "Queen of the Night," "Run to You" and her outstanding cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You."

The musical is currently touring in the U.K. including a stop in London. In November it will head to the United States, according to ABC, performing the first of many shows at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey.

For more dates, locations and ticket information check here.

Watch Houston's live 1994 Grammy performance of "I Will Always Love You" below.

Happy Birthday Whitney Houston -- "The Voice"!

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