NBC’s next big musical is going to be a live show based on Broadway’s Hairspray, itself an adaptation of a 1988 John Waters film, and their new Tracy Turnblad is already cast.
It'sMaddie Baillio's time to shine!
Up-and-comer Maddie Baillio has won the role of Tracy, the big girl with an even bigger heart, who uses her talents to fight racial segregation (and muster up a local television career) in her hometown of 1960’s Baltimore, Maryland. Baillio, a twenty-something from Texas, is said to have won the part out of 1,000 hopefuls. A video of Baillio practicing for the part can be watched below:
Casting a fresh face in the lead role has become something of a tradition for the NBC musicals, similar to the casting of Shanice Williams, another up-and-comer from New Jersey, as Dorothy Gale in last year’s The Wiz Live!
Who else is going to be in the show?
The star-cast is rounded out with Harvey Fierstein, who will play Tracy's mother, Edna Turnblad, who is traditionally played by a man in drag, originating with Divine in the 1988 film. Martin Short is cast as Tracy's father, Wilbur Turnblad. As for the television personalities of the show, Jennifer Hudson is set to play Motormouth Maybelle and Derek Hough will be the TV host, Corny Collins.
NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt praised the upcoming cast in a released statement as something of "Broadway dream team of Tony Award winners" for the show.Hairspray Live! will air this upcoming December, serving as something of a Christmas treat, on NBC, at 8 p.m.
ET time.
Was the original a musical?
While showcasing the music of the times, as in the 1960’s, the original Waters film, which starred Ricki Lake as Traci, was not a musical in the traditional sense.
The storyline was first set to a more traditional musical scene when it was put on Broadway in 2002. Various changes were made from the original film to the live show, such as cutting out the character of Franklin Von Tussle, played by Sonny Bono in the film.
In all likeliness, the upcoming NBC show will most likely resemble this incarnation.
In 2007, the show proved popular enough to garner a film adaptation of its own, starring Nikki Blonsky as Tracy, in addition to John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Christopher Walken.
