NBC’s ‘Hairspray Live’ Musical Set for December Debut
02.18.2016
The televised live musical is definitely a thing now, what with the recent success of such productions as Fox's Grease Live and NBC's The Wiz Live.
On Wednesday, Dec. 7, NBC will air its fourth annual live musical, adapting Hairspray for the small screen. The show is bringing back the production's original team, including director Kenny Leon, who also directed The Wiz Live, choreographer Jerry Mitchell and script adaptor Harvey Fierstein. That team joins original songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.
The cast will be announced at a later date.
Related Stories:
Fox's 'Grease Live' Is the Word
NBC's 'The Wiz' Posts Ratings and Social Highs
Fox Bringing 'The Passion' Live to TV for Palm Sunday
"In keeping with our desire to bring the best of Broadway to our live musicals, we've assembled the Broadway dream team of Tony Award winners for Hairspray Live," said Robert Greenblatt, chairman, NBC Entertainment, in a statement. "We're thrilled to have director Kenny Leon, who knocked The Wiz Live way out of the park, and Jerry Mitchell, the original choreographer of Hairspray and who is the director of two smash hit musicals running on Broadway right now.
"We also have one of the most celebrated Broadway hyphenates, Harvey Fierstein, back writing the adaptation for TV. No one knows Hairspray better than him since he played the role of Edna Turnblad more than a thousand times and won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Along with our incredible producing team of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, and arguably the best songwriting team in musicals, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Hairspray Live is in the best possible hands."
Live musicals have definitely become a trend, and thus far, they have performed well both in the ratings and on social media. Next up is Fox's The Passion, which will air live from New Orleans on Palm Sunday, March 20.
Besides The Wiz Live, Leon also is the force behind such Broadway shows as hip-hop musical Holler if Ya Hear Me and the revival of A Raisin in the Sun, which featured the all-star cast of Denzel Washington, Anika Noni Rose and Sophie Okonedo and won Leon the Tony for best director.
Mitchell won a Tony in 2005 as choreographer of La Cage aux Folles and then went on to win a second Tony in 2013 as choreographer for Kinky Boots, the independent film that was turned into a Broadway musical.
Currently, he's directing On Your Feet, inspired by the career of Gloria Estefan. He's also directing and choreographing Gotta Dance. He choreographed the original Broadway run of Hairspray, which opened at the Neil Simon Theatre in 2002.
Fiersten, best known for starring in Hairspray, will write the NBC teleplay. He's already adapted it for versions produced in Las Vegas and at the Hollywood Bowl. Fierstein won the Tony in 2003 for portraying the flamboyant and fun Edna Turnblad.
He's also won Tonys for best actor in a play for his ownTorch Song Trilogy, and as a writer for La Cage Aux Folles and Torch Song Trilogy. He's been nominated three more times for writing Kinky Boots, Newsies and Casa Valentina. His adaptations of Funny Girl and Kinky Boots are currently running in London. Songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman collaborated on the Broadway production of Hairspray, each winning the Tony and Grammy for best original score. Shaiman is also an Emmy winner and five-time Oscar nominee. Their 2011 musical, Catch Me If You Can was nominated for best musical and their most recent show, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is a long-running hit on London's West End.
The duo is currently co-writing the film sequel to Disney's Mary Poppins. Working closely with executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the duo were also the musical force behind the NBC drama Smash, receiving two Emmy nominations for their songs.
Zadan and Meron have produced all three of NBC's recent holiday musicals - The Sound of Music Live, Peter Pan Live and The Wiz Live - as well as the big-screen adaptions of Hairspray, Footloose, The Bucket List and the Oscar-winning best picture Chicago.
Last year the pair produced the 87th Annual Academy Awards, marking their third consecutive Oscars.
[Image courtesy of Variety]