casting couch

Newcomer Maddie Baillio Slips on the Winner’s Wig As Tracy Turnblad in NBC’s Hairspray Live

Hairspray Live! - 2016
Photo: Virginia Sherwood/NBC

No word on who’s playing the rats on the street that dance round her feet, but you have to assume that’s a much harder get. NBC has selected Maddie Baillio of League City, Texas, to play Tracy Turnblad in the upcoming Hairspray Live. Baillio visited the Today Show this morning, which aired footage of the actress learning she won the role, which is of course the only way anyone should learn good news in these modern times. Baillio will star in Hairspray Live, airing December 7, alongside castmates Harvey Fierstein, Jennifer Hudson, Martin Short, and Derek Hough. In the TV room in his opulent mansion, John Travolta smiles and nods approvingly, hot tears of jealousy streaming down his face.

NBC Casts Newbie Maddie Baillio in Hairspray