“It’s a little bit of theater, a little bit of film and a little bit of television”, Leon said. But a knack for stage directing does not necessarily transfer to the screen. After years of making use of elaborate renderings on one NY soundstage, NBC is taking a cue from Fox’s recent production of “Grease: Live!” and, for the first time, is staging the production in Los Angeles including a live studio audience and will mount some of the production outside. Both received mixed reviews for what was perceived as two-dimensional staging and stiff performances. Broadway.com interviewed the newcomer following the big casting news and has since learned about her “full out” Hairspray Live! journey, her obsession with Michael Bublé’s Christmas album and her cast crush! Just in case, there are backup plans, and it actually did rain during Grease Live!
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Their success has helped illuminate how a live musical can earn a standing ovation. “Thank God that people have been watching it and are watching it, and it’s given us the opportunity, and now other people the opportunity, to create these shows on network television”. One of the best shows on TV.
“I thought, ‘Do I really want to do it?'” he says. What I want to do is get out of this alive without falling in a hole, tripping over a wire or falling on my hair. “And when you’re growing up, you find out what you really care about and what really matters”. The story is about a teenager fighting for equality in Baltimore in the 1960s, when the city and all of America were largely segregated. In the process, she befriends an African-American dancer named Seaweed, and they work together to fight racial justice and inequality and, finally, integrate the show. “As my mom said to me when I moved to LA: “Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground” -Theodore Roosevelt”, he wrote on Instagram.
THM: Looking back at “My Love Letter to Broadway”, what were some of your highlights from the concert series?
NBC’s latest live musical Hairspray Live is taking us back to the ’60s, thanks to its seriously big, bold and handsome colors, retro prints, and, of course, hairspray. So. When the film was adapted for Broadway and premiered in 2002. Broadway star Darren Criss (who just finished a triumphant turn as Hedwig on the Hedwig and the Angry Inch National Tour) will appear on the pre-show and talk about his role in the show – he will give everyone a backstage pass during the show itself.
The Hairspray Live! cast is an eclectic mix of actors who are very talented, even if they are not well known. Much of Leon and Rudzinski’s collaboration involves moving the actors around Baltimore, or at least the “theatrical Baltimore” of the Universal back lot.
Harvey Fierstein eyes an aide making the rounds with a tray of Hollywood-approved immune-system boosters on the set of Hairspray Live! Their love story is a pure one in many ways, with Link singing to her, “Tracy I’m in love with you no matter what you weigh!”
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And Broadway superstar Kristin Chenoweth, who plays villainous Velma Von Tussle, is confident that her heart can take it, but she’s concerned about cracking her head open during a fall on live TV.
