Go Mama Go Go Go!

At 6:31 PM on Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Thanks to Felicity J for this scan of todays Toronto Sun showing a papparazi shot of a "welcome to the sixties' glammed up Edna!



"these photos are unapproved, papparazzi shots, and not to be taken as representative of the color, mood, lighting or performances of the actual film."

If anyone has a clearer scan of the paper- send it my way.


Also sent in by a fan is this VERY interesting article from the Phildelphia Daily News. Nice to see people are responding well to the movie!

Later Monday afternoon, we visited the set of "Hairspray," which is filming in Toronto.

Giddy-with-excitement director/choreographer Adam Shankman unveiled loosely edited footage of a musical number prominently featuring Elijah Kelley (he plays Seaweed in the film). Cast members have been up in Toronto for two months rehearsing, but Monday was only their eighth day of filming (55 days to go). If the rest of the film looks and sounds as good as the snippet we saw, "Hairspray" should be a blast when it opens July 20.

After the film clip, the pride of the Cold Stone Creamery store in Great Neck, Long Island, 17-year-old newcomer Nikki Blonsky (Tracy Turnblad in the film), stood on the small stage of Toronto's Lithuanian Community Center and blew everyone away with a live version of "Good Morning Baltimore."

Then Shankman and Blonsky went back to work, and we mingled with producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron ("Chicago"), composer Marc Shaiman, lyricist Scott Wittman and a few of the film's younger (in costume) stars: Kelley, Brittany Snow, Amanda Bynes and Zac Efron. The killer cast also includes John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah, Christopher Walken and James Marsden. Not bad.

Bynes, Tattle's favorite future studio boss (we chatted with the grounded 20-year-old a few months ago for "She's the Man"), said the movie was "a dream come true." She threw in the obligatory "We all get along so well," but watching the cast interact with and support each other, it seems like a happy, harmonious set with great costumes and snappy tunes.

Snow, cuter in person - especially wearing a three-crinoline dress - said the experience is a little "intimidating" but there are lots of tension-breakers. She said that when Travolta first came out in costume as Tracy's mom, Edna Turnblad, "he was so happy. He was shaking, throwing his butt in the air. We were laughing for 20 minutes."

Asked if she ever visited Philadelphia while filming "American Dreams," which was set here, Snow said no. "We thought about doing the accent for a while but then gave up. It was too hard."

Love,
Hairhopper

Hairspray Movie Musical