Hairspray (2007 film) the 1988 John Waters film upon which the stage musical is based, became interested in adapting the stage show as a musical film. Development work began in late 2004, while a similarly film-to-Broadway-to-film project, Mel Brooks' "The Producers", was in production. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the executive producers of the Academy Award-winning film adaptation of the Broadway musical "Chicago", were hired as the producers for "Hairspray", and began discussing possibly casting John Travolta and Billy Crystal (or Jim Broadbent) as Edna and Wilbur Turnblad, respectively. Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell, authors of the book for the stage musical, wrote
The Father (Strindberg play) Hollywood films) translated, produced, and starred in the production, which met with mixed reviews and closed after 31 performances. Raymond Massey directed and starred in a 1949 Broadway production, which also featured Grace Kelly in the role of Bertha. The play has been translated by Peter Watts (1958), Michael Meyer (1964), Harry G. Carlson (1981), Michael Robinson (1998), Gregory Motton (2000) and Laurie Slade (2012). The role of the Captain has been played in the West End by Michael Redgrave (1948), Wilfrid Lawson (1953) and Trevor Howard (1964). The play was adapted by John Osborne in 1989 a production at