Hairspray Is NBC’s Next Live Musical So Let’s Suggest The New Cast

NBC executive Bob Greenblatt Wednesday tried to silence chatter that “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon has a drinking problem, reported Deadline Hollywood. But now, in an odd spin, the musical will see another iteration in which it’s simultaneously a live and onscreen performance – for it’s been selected as NBC’s next live musical, à la The Wiz, Peter Pan and the Sound of Music before it.

Then in October, Latino activists and others believed NBC went back on their word when they announced that Trump would host an episode of “Saturday Night Live”, a sure ratings victor.

“The Sound of Music was the right length, The Wiz was a little short, while Peter Pan felt like it should’ve have been shorter”, Greenblatt noted.

What do you think of NBC picking Hairspray as their next musical?

Ahead of developing The Wiz a year ago, NBC had been weighing the potential between that project and doing the 1957 hit The Music Man – which some expected to potentially be the next musical after The Wiz.

Greenblatt said that when NBC publicly cut business ties with Trump last summer, “Most of us thought he would be waltzing into the background of the political arena”.

While comedy has also been challenging for NBC, Greenblatt said he’s encouraged by the successful recent debuts of Superstore and Telenovela on Monday nights, calling them “a big relief for us”.

John Travolta and Nikki Blonsky in “Hairspray” the movie.

Written and directed by John Waters, the original “Hairspray” movie cast Ricki Lake, Divine, Debbie Harry and Jerry Stiller in major roles and made just $6.7 million at the box office in 1988, but established itself as a cult classic.