Hairspray Live! stage show but cut and only used in the film, was not added. (An instrumental version of the song is, however, heard very briefly as a bit of background music.) In addition to adapting the book, Fierstein reprised his performance of Edna Turnblad from the Broadway musical; Greenblatt felt that his performance of Edna was "iconic", and that his involvement with "Hairspray Live!" made it "come full circle". NBC cast the lead role of Tracy Turnblad through an open call in New York City, hoping to repeat the "phenomenal discovery" of Shanice Williams for "The Wiz". The role went to
Dame Edna Everage the sequel "Barry McKenzie Holds His Own", the Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam cameos at the close of the film to confer upon Edna the title of Dame, henceforth to be known as "Dame Edna". Following the lukewarm reception to Edna's early appearances in Humphries' 1969 stageshow "Just a Show" and the BBC television series "The Barry Humphries Scandals", a growing awareness and appreciation among British audiences for Edna emerged and Humphries devised a stage show titled "Edna Everage Housewife Superstar" which was successfully presented in London's West End in the mid-1970s. The show featured monologues, songs and what was