“This is a part of our history that can’t be ignored and it’s relevant today in this country when race relations are the way they are. “It’s the kind of musical that our country needs right now,” director Kenny Leon said in an L.A. The people involved in bringing the show to televised life seem well aware of that fact. Instead, it could come across as of-the-moment cultural commentary. With the nation at a more blatantly turbulent moment than it’s seen since, well, possibly the 1960s, Hairspray may not play like a throwback at all. Back then, there were plenty of reasons to think that a musical about the civil-rights movement would resonate with a contemporary audience, even though it wouldn’t be broadcast until December of 2016.Įleven months later, with Hairspray Live! set to debut Wednesday night on NBC, the phenomenon that John Waters built seems like an even more astute, timely choice. That was back in January, a few weeks after NBC broadcast an energetic and successful production of The Wiz, and less than a year after Freddie Gray died in police custody in Baltimore, where Hairspray is set, sparking another wave of Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations.

When NBC first announced plans to stage a production of Hairspray as the network’s next live musical, network chief Bob Greenblatt acknowledged that the show’s focus on race and diversity played a major role in why it was selected.

L-R: Ariana Grande as Penny Pingleton, Garrett Clayton as Link Larkin, Maddie Baillio as Tracy Turnblad, Ephraim Sykes as Seaweed J.

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