‘Hairspray’ planned as NBC’s next live musical

In any case, this is great news, and it shows that NBC recognizes that in order to get the big ratings they want, it’d behoove them to choose musicals that showcase a bit more diversity.

NBC has announced its fourth live musical, and this one is going to involve lots of pompadours and bouffants. I hear the deal closed minutes before NBC’s TCA presentation.

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who helmed the previous three NBC musicals, are on board to executive produce Hairspray.

There’s a difference between being in business with Trump and having him on shows like “Saturday Night Live” and “Meet the Press”, Greenblatt said.

Speaking at the semiannual Television Critics Association’s press tour in Pasadena, Calif., Mr. Greenblatt bragged that NBC is “the only network with two bona fide new hit fall dramas” in “Blindspot” and “Chicago Med”. The musical features music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, and is based on the 1988 John Waters film of the same name. After their inaugural production of The Sound of Music, the ratings slumped for Peter Pan.

Greenblatt, who cautioned that contracts remain to be signed for “Hairspray“, said NBC has started a musical trend for other networks.

Hairspray is set in 1960s Baltimore and follows an ambitious teen, Tracy Turnblad, who wins a spot on a popular dance show and becomes an overnight sensation. A remake, starring John Travolta as Tracy’s mother, premiered in 2007, the same year that another production of the musical version opened in London.