Just two months after the successful premiere of "The Wiz Live," NBC confirmed "Hairspray" as the next musical slated for live TV. NBC also announced a formalized all-star creative team to bring the beloved 1988 classic to life on television screens, and set an airdate for the upcoming event.
"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, NBC Entertainment's chairman. "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," he continued. "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."
"Hairspray" follows plus-size teenager Tracy Turnblad as she takes a stand against racial segregation in 1962 Baltimore by charming her way onto on a local TV dance show, according to IMDB. Actress and talk show host Ricki Lake starred in the lead role in the 1998 version directed by John Waters, and Nikki Blonsky succeeded her as Tracy in the Adam Shankman-directed 2007 version.
Songwriting team Zadan and Meron are back onboard after producing NBC's previous musicals ("The Sound of Music Live," "Peter Pan Live" and "The Wiz Live"), as previously reported by HNGN.
"Hairspray Live" is set to premiere Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 8 p.m. on NBC. The cast is yet to be announced.
