Do you think Queen Latifah will return to reprise her role? I could see it. Maybe now that Kristen Bell is on NBC she could do Amber, Penny or Velma? I could see Megan Hilty being in this too.
There are just so many talented young people out there. I really love Kristen Bell & Anna Kendrick but do we really need someone in their 30's playing high school students Tracy or Penny? Just no...
NBC's live musicals will continue to miss the mark until they start doing them with live audiences. Without one, it feels incredibly awkward and it lacks any semblance of energy. FOX has the right idea with having one for Grease Live. I hope it works out for them so live audiences become the standard.
KathyNYC2 said: "There are just so many talented young people out there. I really love Kristen Bell & Anna Kendrick but do we really need someone in their 30's playing high school students Tracy or Penny? Just no..."
So? Stockard Channing was only 33 when she played Rizzo.
Sunny11 said: "I don't think that Efron is age appropriate now, he bulked up considerably for a movie and, while he looked amazing, didn't look high school age at all."
I agree with him not being appropriate now, but he was only 19 when they made the movie and I don't think there was anyone else in the world more appropriate to play Link in the movie. It was the perfect role for him at the time.
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I will say that I agree with the sentiment about the live audience. This is one of those shows that believe really should require a live audience due to the high level of humor and energy of the show -- especially the humor aspect of the piece.
They should film them in a real theatre too. Not just a studio.
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I actually quite liked the latest movie version that was done (nearly 10 years ago now!) so I'm kinda...indifferent about this at the moment. Though I can understand choosing it for this particular type of production.
I really enjoyed James Marsden as Corny in the film. I think he could still pull it off. I also really loved Zac as Link but think he's aged out by now.
With all due respect, John Waters wrote Edna Turnblad as a woman and Divine chose to play her that way. It was never played as a "man in drag" which Divine never was - every female role he ever played was played as a real woman. This idea was honored in the Broadway adaptation and every actor who has played Edna played her as a woman. Never as a drag act.
Also, per John Waters' request, Tracy will always be cast with an unknown. Ricki Lake was discovered for the original 1988 film; though she had some prior Broadway credits, Marissa Jaret Winokur was a total unknown when she starred in the 2002 Broadway adaptation and Nikki Blonsky was discovered for the 2007 film adaptation of the Broadway musical. So yes, like they did with THE WIZ Live!, an open call will be held for the casting of Tracy Turnblad.
I thought the movie was pretty great with the exception of Travolta's (still-odd) choice to play it more or less "straight" as a woman. It didn't really work, despite some bright moments.
I hope to see a full-on drag performance this time. It's the anchor of the show.
The rest of the film I thought was wonderful. But you gotta get Edna right or makes things weird.
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I think this is a great idea. I really hope they just do the stage version rather than do a mixture of both the film and the stage show. I also want them to cast a newcomer to play tracy.
Besides several things from THE WIZ, SOUND OF MUSIC and PETER PAN were close to their stage adaptations and NBC seems to have the right idea as far as that goes. I really do hope they CONSIDER a live audience for this!