NBC has formalized its creative team for its upcoming Hairspray Live.
The follow-up to The Wiz Live — announced in January — will see Kenny Leon again return to direct the performance. He’ll be joined by Jerry Mitchell, who choreographed the original Broadway show — as well as Harvey Fierstein, who will pen the teleplay. Hairspray songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman will also serve in the same capacity for NBC after winning the Tony and Grammy for its Broadway score.
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As with all of NBC’s live musicals, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron — produced the 2007 big-screen feature film take on Hairspray — will oversee the production, which is set to air Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m.
“In keeping with our desire to bring the best of Broadway to our live musicals, we’ve assembled the Broadway dream team of Tony Award winners for Hairspray Live,” NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt said. “We’re thrilled to have director Kenny Leon, who knocked The Wiz Live way out of the park, and Jerry Mitchell, the original choreographer of Hairspray and who is the director of two smash hit musicals running on Broadway right now. We also have one of the most celebrated Broadway hyphenates, Harvey Fierstein, back writing the adaptation for TV. No one knows Hairspray better than him since he played the role of Edna Turnblad more than a thousand times and won the Tony Award for best actor in a musical. Along with our incredible producing team of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, and arguably the best songwriting team in musicals, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Hairspray Live is in the best possible hands.”
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.