Hairspray Film to be Featured on 'Oprah' on May 16

This Wednesday, May 16, the full cast of the highly anticipated film version of Hairspray - along with dancers from the movie - will appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."  Live musical performances from the movie and several exclusive film clips will be featured.

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" airs on ABC in New York at 4:00pm, in Los Angeles at 3:00pm, in Detroit at 4:00pm, and in Chicago at 9:00am.  Viewers in other cities should check local listings.

The film version of Hairspray will be directed by Adam Shankman (Bringing Down the House) and produced by Craig Zadan Craig Zadan and Neil MeronNeil Meron for their Zadan/Meron Productions, which previously executive produced the Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning Best Picture Chicago.  It will be released in July of 2007.

The cast features John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, Christopher Walken as Wilbur Turnblad, Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle, Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma Von Tussle, Brittany Snow as Amber Von Tussle, Zac Efron as Link Larkin, Elijah Kelley as Seaweed, James Marsden as Corny Collins, Allison Janney as Prudy Pingleton and newcomer Nikki Blonksy as Tracy Turnblad, who helps to integrate a Baltimore dance show-and wins the heart of Link in the process.

Hairspray is originally based on the 1988 John Waters comedy. The new version of the film is based on New Line's hit Broadway adaptation of the film, which debuted in 2002, and went on to win eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book and Best Director. 

Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman contributed new songs to their existing Tony Award-winning score. Shaiman also serves as the film's music supervisor and will compose the music score for the film as well as produce its songs. Wittman and Shaiman will also serve as executive producers on the film. The new screenplay for Hairspray was written by Leslie Dixon (Freaky Friday, Outrageous Fortune).

Toby Emmerich, New Line's president of production, is overseeing the project along with New Line's Executive VP of Production Mark Kaufman, and Creative Executives Michael Disco and Daryl Freimark.

Visit www.hairsprayonbroadway.com for more information on Hairspray.