NBC has previously been successful with live television presentations of The Sound of Music, Peter Pan, and The Wiz, and their 2016 live musical will be Hairspray. The search for the new Tracy Turnblad is well underway, though the broadcasting company announced the first two cast members for the show – Jennifer Hudson and Harvey Fierstein, via their Twitter account.

Hudson will be playing Motormouth Maybelle, while Fierstein will be reprising his role as Edna Turnblad; he previously won a Tony Award for Best Actor in 2003 for his performance as Edna on Broadway. Hudson recently made her Broadway debut as Shug in the 2015 revival of The Color Purple, for which she has been nominated for a Drama League Award.

NBC later announced that Martin Short will be playing Wilbur Turnblad - Tracy's father and Edna's husband - with Derek Hough to portray Corny Collins, host of the popular dance show featured in the story. Short's musical credits include the Los Angeles production of The Producers, where he played Leo Bloom, and the 1999 Broadway production of Little Me, for which he won a Tony Award. Hough is best-known for appearing as one of the various professional dancers on Dancing With the Stars, though he has also appeared in the 2006 touring production of Footloose: The Musical and is set to star as Don Lockwood in the upcoming revival of Singin' In The Rain.

Hairspray Live will air on December 7, 2016; further casting announcements are expected soon.