Hairspray Live Announcement

NBC just announced that their next live musical is going to be Hairspray. I am extremely excited for this because Hairspray is one of my favorite musicals. Though I love the cast of the movie and thought the casting choices were absolutely perfect, I do have some ideas in mind on who should fill these roles once again.

I hope they do what they did with their live production of The Wiz in which they cast an unknown for the lead and allow celebrities or well-known names to fill the rest of the roles. From what I’ve read, it seems like I’m going to get my wish. I saw that they are doing open casting for Tracy, which is wonderful news. In the movie version, they did a nationwide search for the perfect Tracy and they found her in Nikki Blonsky, who was working at a Coldstone Creamery at the time. I really enjoy when big productions like this get unknowns for their leads because you don’t know what you’re in store for and it also is a wonderful way to put these unknown names out into the world so casting directors can see their talent.

I personally am not sure who I would want in every role. I haven’t sat down to think of a dream cast or anything like that. Live musicals like this are something that you should just allow to happen and wait to see if the cast that is chosen delivers a solid performance or not.

One role, in particular, that I completely have my sights set on is Velma Von Tussle. Christine Baranski has to play her, she has to. If you’ve seen the movie adaption of Into the Woods, you can clearly see how Christine’s portrayal of Cinderella’s Stepmother has some great similarities to Velma and I love when Christine gets to play a villain with great style. A lot of people watch these live musicals, so this would be a great opportunity to get Christine out there to those who don’t know her and how brilliantly talented she is. I’m also hoping this production exposes Hairspray to people who haven’t seen it before.

The role I have the most concern about is Edna. If you don’t know, Edna is Tracy’s voluptuous mother who is usually played by a male actor. I love John Travolta as Edna in the movie and I think he did a wonderful job in creating this very feminine persona for her. I just hope they can get someone to fill these big shoes well.