Hairspray (musical) End cast. The first amateur MTI production was produced at the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in the summer of 2008. The Junior version released by MTI excludes the musical numbers "I Can Hear the Bells", "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs", "Velma's Revenge", "You're Timeless to Me", and "Big, Blonde, and Beautiful". "Hairspray" was the next live musical to be produced by NBC, and was broadcast on December 7, 2016. Newcomer Maddie Baillio was chosen to play Tracy Turnblad. Jennifer Hudson and Harvey Fierstein starred as Motormouth Maybelle and Edna Turnblad, respectively. Martin Short portrayed Wilbur Turnblad
Hairspray (musical) spent two years preparing with voice and dance lessons. Tracy's mother had been portrayed by Divine in the original film, and Shaiman liked the idea of maintaining the tradition of casting a male as Edna Turnblad. Harvey Fierstein auditioned for the role with a "half hour vocal audition". He thought they were "pacifying" him, but he was told "they don't want anyone but you". According to Shaiman, one song, "I Know Where I've Been," became controversial during the genesis of the score: The civil rights story line is a very important aspect of the musical. This story line and the