HAIRSPRAY LIVE's Kenny Leon Hints at 'Musical Surprises'; Shares More Details

Today, BWW participated in a live conference call with HAIRSPRAY LIVE!'s award-winning director Kenny Leon (THE WIZ LIVE!) and Emmy Award-winning live television director Alex Rudzinski (GREASE LIVE), who shared the latest developments in their work on the show.

Asked how his experience directing THE WIZ LIVE has helped him in his latest endeavor, Leon shares, "Now after completing THE WIZ LIVE, I'm able to go into HAIRSPRAY LIVE a lot more confident. It's scary as hell because it's all live and all that, but it's helped to be able to set the tone in the room and be able to prepare the artists for what's going to happen, and how the energy's going to change." He adds, "It's given me confidence in terms of what we can and cannot do. So I'm excited. [Alex] is taking the best of GREASE LIVE and I'm taking the best of WIZ LIVE and putting that together and going into a territory that we've never been."

BWW asked the director about the show's message of acceptance, which is still so significant in today's times, and how he plans to present the musical through the lens of what's happening in 2016. "As artists, the only lens we can present is the present day lens," Leon explains, "so for me it's no different than directing "A Raisin in the Sun" on Broadway, which I did last year, and how that was so different from what I had done ten years before." He continued, "So when you do HAIRSPRAY now you have to be aware of the political climate. We are aware of the Black Lives Matter protests, so in subtle ways, you layer that in. But we are really still keeping it in 1962 but we have subtle visual suggestions and subtle reminders...we have a way of suggesting things in the dialogue that is strictly 1962 but that may also say something to us in 2016."

Speaking on the addition of outside sets for HAIRSPRAY LIVE, Rudzinski shared, "We are doing more outside sets than 'Grease', we've raised the bar." He went on to reveal, "Grease was probably 15 percent outside, for Hairspray, it's close to 40 percent. So it's a huge challenge, but it's going to be great fun."

Asked what will make this version of HAIRSPRAY unique from past incarnations, Leon offered, "Number one, it's for the small screen, and number two the cast. This cast is so right, Ariana and Jennifer and Maddie. And we have the pleasure of having all of the music from the Broadway production, but we're also using a couple of numbers from the movie." He teased, "And we're also going to have a few surprises musically and choreographically that suggest how important it is for us to be sitting now in real time watching this event, so that there is a liveness, there is a presence that it's today... There are certain things that we can do visually to make sure the audience feels themselves in the telling of the story."

Speaking on cast members Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson, Leon commented, "We are lucky and fortunate and blessed to have both of them, and I think folks will see something in both of them that they've never seen before. In my early conversations with Jennifer, we started talking about the potential of what she could bring to this specific role and this specific play, and trust me, she's going to deliver some magic and something that we've never seen before."

He adds, "And I'm really impressed with Ariana because folks have no idea what kind of artist she is, the reach of her genius. I think that some people think of her just as a music icon and all of that, but she wanted to be involved in this because she loves HAIRSPRAY, and she started in the theater. So I'm excited that they both are team players and they both are going to deliver something that the world hasn't seen. So I'm excited and yeah, we're blessed."

NBC's HAIRSPRAY LIVE will air Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT and will originate from Los Angeles. The all-star cast includes Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad, Jennifer Hudson as Motormouth Mabel, Martin Short as Wilbur Turnblad, Derek Hough as Corny Collins, Ariana Grande as Penny Pingleton, Andrea Martin as Prudy Singleton and Kristin Chenoweth as Velma Von Tussle. Rosie O'Donnell and Sean Hayes will also make special appearances in the broadcast.

Live television director Alex Rudzinski will join director Kenny Leon ("The Wiz Live!"). Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (the upcoming "A Few Good Men Live!") serve as executive producers of "Hairspray Live!" Harvey Fierstein will provide a new teleplay and Jerry Mitchell ("Kinky Boots," "On Your Feet") will serve as choreographer for the live production with music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman ("Smash" and Broadway's upcoming "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"). Derek McLane serves as production designer.

Based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, "Hairspray Live!" takes place in 1962 Baltimore. Teenager Tracy Turnblad's dream is to dance on "The Corny Collins Show," a local TV program. When, against all odds, Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight and meets a colorful array of characters, including the resident dreamboat, Link; the ambitious mean girl, Amber; an African-American boy she meets in detention, Seaweed; and his mother, Motormouth Maybelle, the owner of a local record store. Tracy's mother is the indomitable Edna Turnblad, and she eventually encourages Tracy on her campaign to integrate the all-white "Corny Collins Show."

Photo by: Evans Vestal Ward/NBCUniversal