Sean Hayes and Rosie O’Donnell are adding more star power to the upcoming Hairspray Live! Pinky (the dress shop owner who sponsors Tracy) and Rosie O’Donnell as the gym teacher (who, at least in the stage show, doubles as Mrs. Pingleton and the prison matron as well, although Meron did not specify whether Rosie will pull triple-duty). “I guess now it’s the right time”, she said.
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“Hairspray” – which you already know but just in case – was one of the great Broadway musical successes of this century, with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman.
“‘Hairspray Live!’ uses a much bigger area of the backlot than we did on ‘Grease.’ It’s very ambitious and that reflects on the excitement the narrative brings us to be able to use that space and the dynamic of being able to go in and out of the backlot”.
“I said yes immediately”, Hough said of joining the ensemble.
Grande added: “I don’t want to change anything about the role or how she develops”.
Grande, whose first professional job was the Broadway musical 13, is a theater geek at heart.
“This is such a dream come true for me because at heart, theater is everything to me”, Grande added. “I just love Penny and it’s just such a great honor to play her”. Like Fox’s recent production “Grease: Live!”, some portions of “Hairspray Live!” will include exterior scenes to recreate 1960s Baltimore. Hairspray Live will be filmed on the Universal Lot in California, both inside and outside.
Like all of NBC’s live musicals, Hairspray Live is exec produced by Meron and Zadan with Kenny Leon attached to direct with Alex Rudzinski also on board as the live TV director.
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Hairspray Live! will air December 7 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
