NBC to do ‘Hairspray’ Live Musical Event for Dec. 2016

NBC is taking on “Hairspray” for its next live musical event, which happens every December. The network announced its plans to the press during the Television Critics’ Academy panel Wednesday.

NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblat said that the deal is not yet 100 percent in the books. But the network is hopeful to set things in place and produce the musical for TV. Expect a formal announcement from the network next.

Greenblat is also looking into doing “The Music Man” for television and it has been speculated that NBC would be choosing “West Side Story” next.  “I’ve heard obscure titles and famous titles. Not everything’s going to be a big name to the whole audience. I don’t think there’s an infinite number of these that can be done. But we’re still doing it,” he told the press, according to Entertainment Weekly.

NBC first did their live musical event with “The Sound of Music” in 2013, and was followed up by “Peter Pan” the following year. Its latest attempt to present stage musicals for television in a one-off special with “The Wiz” live was its most impressive in terms of ratings and production.

“Hairspray” was written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman based on a book by Thomas Meehan and Mark O’Donnell. The stage play starred Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur and ran in 2002 to 2009 on Broadway. In 2007, “Hairspray” was done as a movie that starred Nikki Blonsky and John Travolta, per Variety.