Live theatre is a special event that can be unfortunately prohibitive for many.
Whether that be because of the cost of a Broadway ticket or the simple lack of theatre company nearby, the fact remains that what began as the most democratic form of entertainment is now largely reserved for the social elite. NBC (and, to a lesser extent, Fox) has for the past few years been bringing something of the live experience to people’s homes. They’re continuing what has become something of an annual tradition with Hairspray Live!, airing December 7th.
I recently spoke with director Kenny Leon (winner of the 2014 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play for A Raisin in the Sun) over the phone about his involvement with the project.
HAIRSPRAY LIVE! — Pictured: Director Kenny Leon — (Photo by: Tyson Alan Horne/NBC)
[Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.]
How did you get involved with Hairspray Live!?
Kenny Leon: Well, you know last year I directed The Wiz Live! for NBC, and I had a really great time. It was a great process. Everything about it was lovely. So I got a call from the executive producers asking me to do their next one, which was Hairspray Live!. I’ve always loved this particular musical, and Harvey Fierstein and I worked together on The Wiz, so that was a plus. And it was an opportunity to reunite with [producers] Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and [NBC chairman Robert] Greenblatt.
What’s it like working with the additional technical aspects and difficulties of the live broadcast, from the lighting and the set to the live audience?
Leon: Well, I mean the challenges are the challenges. [It’s] dealing with the revolution of a new art form, you know? So you start out with The Sound of Music and Peter Pan, and then Fox did Grease and I did The Wiz. And now we’re doing Hairspray. So I think we’re raising the bar every time, and you’re learning from the previous production. So now I have the luxury of having learned from all of those musicals that have been presented before. So this time the challenge was to incorporate exteriors with interiors and getting actors from one place to the other. So that’s going to add another dimension that we’re excited by. It’s scary as shit, but it’s very exciting to do it and to be a part of it. And I imagine the next one that’s done, we’ll learn a great deal about how we’re doing it. But we always believe in the idea of: if there’s an organic reason to have an audience, then we have that. For this we won’t have an audience for the sake of audience . . . We have what we call an “organic audience” [that’s motivated by the story]. But the real audience are the people that are at home and tuning in at 8 o’ clock on December 7th.
What do you make of this new art form? It’s got the elements of live theatre and television. Do you see it as a mixture of the two, or a way to bring the live experience to people who might not have access to it otherwise?
Leon: Yeah. What I love about it is that, you know… I’ve done, what, five movies; I’ve done episodic television; I’ve done Broadway theatre; I’ve done musicals, dramas… I feel like this is none of those, but it’s all of those. And this is a hybrid. So you take what is great about musical theatre, and what is great about television and film, and what is great about drama and you mush it all together and you come out with these live musical events. So I think that, at the end of the day, it encourages people to go to the live theatre in their city, to seek out live theatre. And it also creates a special live television event. So I think it’s good for television because you get all the generations. You get the entire family to sit down and do something together in real time. And that’s become harder and harder to do these days. So to create a real time, live event that encourages families to do something together, and at the end of the day encourages them to seek out live theatre I think is a win-win for both art forms.
How do you see this hybrid evolving over the next few years?
Leon: Oh, I think it’s only going to get bigger and better, and I think more artists are going to want to participate and be a part of it. I think that audiences are going to keep tuning in because of the way we cast it. When I did The Wiz we had Mary J. Blige and Queen Latifah, [and] for this you have Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson and Rosie O’Donnell and Harvey Fierstein. So you have a good mix of people. So as long as we can be creative about how we cast it. And there will be people from the pop music world who want to participate, and there will be people from the Broadway world who want to participate, and there will be from the film and television world who want to participate. So I think audiences will continue to be excited by who’s doing it and how we’re doing it. And I think we’ll keep raising the bar about how we’re doing it and try to find more creative ways to present this hybrid of an idea.
How do you approach a well known piece of work (like Hairspray or A Raisin in the Sun) with fresh eyes when you begin your work?
Leon: It’s alway easy for me. Like, when I did A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway this last time, I never thought about what I did ten years earlier. I always think about, “What can these specific artists bring to this particular project?” So I’m trying to find the truth in the artists who are involved in this. So this year when I’m doing Hairspray, what I love about it is like, you know, Harvey [Fierstein] and the choreographer Jerry Mitchell, they were participating in the original Broadway production. And Neil Meron and Craig Zadan . . . were a part of the 2007 film. And so what I say is that I’m a Hairspray virgin. So I get a chance to collaborate with people who have been invested in this project. But I have a way of bringing my particular instincts, my desires, my touches on it. And then you mix that all up. You mix Kenny Leon and Jerry Mitchell and Harvey Fierstein and this group of people, and you mix it all up and it’s going to come out differently, just because the people are different. It’s also going to come out differently because I’m always trying to create things that will affect an audience today. So we’re presenting this in 2016. So it’s a beautiful musical about the integration of dance. And our country’s going through a lot of racial issues, a lot of political tension, a lot of community issues, and this play is the perfect play to do at this particular time. And I think there’s a way to still keep it entertaining and fresh, but also looking at it through a lens of 2016. It’s the same when we did The Wiz last year. We look at that through the lens of 2015, even though it was written for 1975. So I’m always interested in how the past collides with the present to get us to look at the future. And that’s what I think Hairspray can do for us.
When people see Hairspray in December, what do you hope they get out of it or go say and do?
Leon: I hope they walk away and say, “You know, some of the things that are happening in our country are sort of silly. And there’s too much intolerance and difference.” We need to accept each other, no matter how we look, no matter our shade of skin, no matter what our culture is. And I think in an entertaining way this will suddenly remind people that we are better than all the ugliness that comes out and that’s presented on the news about us as human beings or us as Americans. So I think it’ll be a moment where we can sit back and feel good about being human.
What’s next after Hairspray?
Leon: Yeah. I’m still excited to get The Wiz back on the Broadway stage. I’m waiting on a theater for that. And I’ve been preparing to do Children of a Lesser God for Broadway as well, and I plan to do a couple big TV events that would involve drama and music that I can’t really talk about right now. But there’s a lot to do, and I’m always trying to figure out what I can do, my little bit to make it a better world through entertainment. So it’s a good day.
Airing live on Wednesday, December 7th at 8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT
