Harvey Fierstein & Jerry Mitchell – Hairspray Live

By starrymag | November 23, 2016

Q) Jerry, I was wondering in order to do choreography for this play for television was there anything special that you learned in figuring it out?

 

Jerry Mitchell:       Well I’ve worked in film and television before so there’s nothing special. I actually came to the project with my choreography from the original Broadway production which I used as my base to get started. But the great thing and the thing that makes a difference is you’re working with a 360 degree angle. You’re not in a proscenium like a theater. So it’s a little bit more like doing theater in the round. But it’s been really exciting and we’re getting some amazing footage. So I’m really excited about what’s going to happen.

 

Q) Harvey, what were your main goals in figuring out how to make Hairspray from – updating it the way you did for the play itself?

 

Harvey Fierstein:   Well it’s not so much a matter of updating because as you know the play takes place in 1962. The story takes place in ’62 so we’re not updating in that way. What my concern was having performed this show 1000 times I know ? So that really was my concern is how do we tell the story in the more intimate, you know – because after all you’re watching it at home, you could be in your underwear or whatever. Television is a very intimate medium. So how do we reach you, tell that story, be true to the story but still get you excited about life and present that? And of course that has a lot to do with the performances. I stuck as closely as I could to the original Broadway. I did make some adjustments to – for – you know, so that the story really lived on that smaller box. But basically I wanted to try and get you excited and happy about life.

 

Q) Harvey, can you tell me what you’re seeing in the new cast members that are coming especially newcomer Maddie who plays Tracy? What do you have to say about the new cast members you’re working with?

 

Harvey Fierstein:   Well, you know, the wonderful part about theater is it’s always alive. You know a movie, you make a movie, it’s done, it’s finished. Three hundred years from now it’s exactly the same as it was the day you make it. Theater is a living thing and every day changes and that’s the way this is with Hairspray Live.  So having a new Tracy obviously it’s all new blood. I’m so excited for you to see her. Maddie Baillio is, I think, a true star. She has a voice that is just wonderful. It’s poppy, it’s exciting, it’s real. She has a spirit that is indomitable. She moves and attacks Jerry’s beautiful choreography with such gusto. She just dives in.  We’ve been working together for six weeks now. I have never once heard her complain about anything. And trust me we’re working her hard and she is in there. She’s excited about life. She’s excited to do this. She wants to do it. And it’s wonderful. You know it’s given me a whole new light to have this terrific new young star.  And then the other people Ariana has always loved Hairspray kind of like you have. She and has been dying to play this role so she gets to do it. Jennifer I’ve known for a couple years and we’ve had Kristin Chenoweth and I go back, I don’t want to say how many decades.  So, you know, so you have all kinds of new friends and old friends, the kids give it – you know these kids give it all their energy.  And what Jerry has done if he doesn’t mind my tooting his whistle, he has taken the original choreography but it’s expanded. You know what he did was he created a language of dance that kids could invent themselves. That’s what was exciting about the dances of that period. Kids made up these dances themselves. You know what I mean? Any kid could do them. And Jerry’s taken that simplicity and then raised it to an art form. It’s very exciting.

 

Q) Wow I can’t wait. I wish it was tomorrow.

 

Harvey Fierstein:   Well I’m ready. I’m ready. I’ve got my stuff ready.

 

Q) Jerry, I know you have expert dancers like Derek Hough. But how about with someone like Dove Cameron who doesn’t come with a lot of dance experience but a lot of raw talent, how is it working with her?

 

Jerry Mitchell:       It’s like Harvey said that when I first approached the show and the story of the show I realized that it’s not really about professional dancers. It’s about young kids who want to dance on a teen TV show. So I tried to keep the dancing simplistic. And Dove, you know, when she – when we cast Dove in the show she was actually doing a movie. But we met here in LA and we put a bunch of her stuff on video. So she took it up to Vancouver, I think she was filming. And she practiced every day. When she showed up on the set, sure enough she had all her steps down.  So, we’ve done that with – even with Marty Short. He loves to tape the choreography then take it home and work on it. We’ve been giving them all their private tutoring sessions. But they’ve been working for really hard really for the past eight weeks with me. Three weeks Maddie started in New York with me for two solid weeks just of dance before she came out here and started to learn the score on this and the lines.

 

Q) Harvey, I want to know just the backstory of how you came to be involved in this new production of Hairspray and also how you agreed to write the book for this musical. Did you feel any kind of trepidation for going back and redoing something you had done in the past in addition to that?

 

Harvey Fierstein:   Okay. Yes. Well I’ll tell you. Last year I wrote The Wiz. You know I wrote the teleplay for The Wiz presentation last year and I worked with Kenny and had a wonderful time working with Kenny and and Craig.   And then they called me. And they said, “Would you mind writing the teleplay for Hairspray even if you’re not acting in it?” And I said not at all because truthfully I’m one of the original writers. I’m uncredited but I’m actually one of the original writers of the show. I also wrote the adaptation that we did in Las Vegas. And I wrote the adaptation we did at the Hollywood Bowl. I’m pretty familiar with the show and then working with Jerry of course because Jerry and I had worked together in Las Vegas – you know not only Broadway but the Las Vegas and the Hollywood Bowl. I felt very relaxed about that. So I had no problem at all stepping in as the writer of the teleplay.

 

Q) Jerry, sort of following up on the last question, because you have such a wide range of experience in terms of your actors and their dancing background, how do you approach each actor and kind of nurture them along when you see maybe one actor can take to choreography a lot more easily and then you have Derek Hough who did win awards for his own choreography on the other end of the scale? You know how do you kind of work with each actor? What’s your process for doing that?

 

Jerry Mitchell:       Well just probably what you’re saying is I pay attention to each actor. And I look at their scale of ability and their – and how they operate. And I try to figure out how I can best serve them and when they’re ready for more and when they’re ready for less and when I need to push them and when I need to back off and let them live in it for a bit.  So I do have a lot of experience with dance and different kinds of actors in film, television and stage. So it’s basically working with the actor. And what can I do to help them be the best that they can be. Derek has been sensational. They’ve all been sensational. But and also educating them a little bit about the 60s and what movement was like in the 60s compared to what it is like today. So it’s been fun.

 

Q)I know it was recently revealed that Ricki Lake and Marissa Jaret Winokur are going to have cameos in the show which is so exciting.

 

Jerry Mitchell:       I don’t know if I’m supposed to give away their cameos so I don’t want to say anything until I’ve been given the – they’re going to be appearing together in a sequence in the show.

 

Q) I was wondering if you can maybe both briefly talk about how the message of the show is perhaps even more relevant than ever in light of recent events in the country?

 

Jerry Mitchell:       Well, you know, the message of Hairspray, when we opened Hairspray on Broadway we – it had not had an African American serving as President of the United States. And that certainly was a big part of our journey. And that changed – and that made things different for all of us in a very positive way. And the show is certainly at the forefront of that experience.  But I think Hairspray is needed now more today with the recent turnout of our election than ever before because inclusion and everyone just dancing together is really what it boils down to in a very simple message. And it couldn’t be more needed today than it has ever been in the past.

 

Harvey Fierstein:   As you just said it’s a funny thing. You know in the past few years we’ve watched the Supreme Court get rid some of the Voting Rights Act and we watched them get rid of quotas for some schools. And I said to myself maybe they know better than I do. I don’t think we’ve moved ahead that far. But maybe they’re smarter than I am. They are Supreme Court Justices. Maybe the world has moved on. Well we just had an election where we found out very strongly and in no uncertain terms no we haven’t gotten that far. I don’t think that’s a terrible thing. I think it’s a good thing to know where you are for real. I think when you are kidding yourself you’re kidding yourself.   And I think America just got a wakeup call as to who we are and what our differences are. And we now know the work ahead of us. And Hairspray is a really good reminder that just a few years ago in our history we couldn’t even dance together.  I think we need to remember that and say, “Is that really what we want to go back to. Do we really want to go back to days where people lived in constant fear of touching each other, of talking to each other, of being together? Do we want a separated divided America or do we want an America that is stronger because we’re all together?  Hairspray in its very gentle, fun, John Waters way carries that message. And I hope that people tune in and enjoy it.

 

 

Q) I’ve read that there will be a live audience for this one. And I’m just curious how it will be factored into the broadcast if you can give it away?

 

Jerry Mitchell:       Oh well obviously the Corny Collins Show is a teen dance show so there’s an audience watching the show in the studio. That’s one way we’re going to use our live audience, their applause after the end of Good Morning Baltimore will transition us to the Corny Collins Studio where we immediately pick up with Nicest Kids in Town.   So they’ll be a part of the show. Then we’ll have audiences scattered throughout the back lot watching the performances. I’m not sure we’re ever going to break the fourth wall and say oh that’s a modern-day audience. But we are using the audience in the Corny Collins Show. And we go to the Corny Collins Show four times and of course we…

 

Harvey Fierstein:   Yes and the big finale.

 

Jerry Mitchell:       The big finale, yes. And we’ve got some surprises in there with the audience.

 

Q) Harvey given that you are so familiar with Hairspray, the material, can you talk a little bit about your adaptation and whether this is going to be like a supersized version of Hairspray that will combine the show and the movie and the original movie and all of that?

 

Harvey Fierstein:   Yes. No. My concern, you know, when we were writing the show in the first place we sort of digested the movie and decided, you know, John Waters’ movie and decided what we wanted from that movie and what we didn’t.  So that had – that decision had already been done. The move – the Hollywood movie really didn’t play very much into this because it changed the story and did things that I personally would never have done if it was…

 

Jerry Mitchell:       Basically we’ve stuck very, very close to the Broadway production. You know obviously you’re limited with time on television. And as opposed to stage where you could be a musical, be anything between two hours and three hours depending on what you want to deliver and how you want to deliver it. So we’re following pretty much the actual shape of the Broadway musical. We have included the song Ladies Choice. We’ve – we do not have a big dollhouse. I think that’s already been spoken about. But we do have Ladies Choice and we have Come So Far which is our curtain call number.  And but otherwise we’re sticking close to the Broadway version.

 

Q) Can you talk about how you’re reimaging your choreography like You Can’t Stop the Beat and Good Morning Baltimore and all of the big production numbers?

 

Jerry Mitchell:       Well Good Morning Baltimore takes place outside on the street and that’s Baltimore.  I’ve had to reimagine it quite a bit. And but I think the people who are fans of the Broadway production will be extremely excited about the way the show starts and how I’ve taken the Broadway production and the Broadway idea and now made it work for television. I’m excited about it. We had a – we had some camera tests last week and it was just really thrilling to see it sort of come to life.  You Can’t Stop the Beat, when I created that dance for Broadway my goal was that everyone in the audience would feel like they can get up and do that step too. The steps for the finale, Tracy’s steps are exactly the same as they were on Broadway. The difference is we’ve got more people doing them in a bigger space with a lot more audience joining us. So it’ll be fun to see that You Can’t Stop the Beat grow and grow and grow. It’s hard to be bad when you got a song that’s that good.

 

Q) You guys didn’t stick very close to the movie remake but closer to the Broadway…

 

Harvey Fierstein:   Right. The remake we didn’t. But I was – oh I was about to say that Derek Hough, because we had Derek Hough Jerry wanted to use a song that was in the movie called Ladies Choice because it’s more of a dance song. And it would allow Derek to really dance. So that was one thing that we did. You know that sort of avows to the new movie.

 

Q) Would you do Edna again on Broadway if that opportunity arose?

 

Harvey Fierstein:   It’s not my – it’s not really. You know they’re talking about a revival. And I never say never to anything. But my next project is a play at the Public Theater. That Martin Sherman wrote. And I’m really very excited about doing something new and different. And, you know, I love Edna. I owe such a debt of gratitude to her and so much to her. And I will always protect her and be there for her if she needs me.

 

Q) These musicals have been so highly successful for NBC. Does that put any kind of pressure on you? And if so how do you deal with that?

 

Jerry Mitchell:  Well I don’t have time for pressure. No time for pressure. I mean Hairspray is such a fantastic musical first and foremost that the opportunity to do it live and for television, all I’m thinking and concentrating on is getting it taught, getting it shot and getting everybody in the right place at the right time. And I think the rest will take care of itself. It’s too good a project to not come off in a great way.

 

Harvey Fierstein:   Yes. We’re not in the marketing side of things. You know we basically do what we do and then it’s Joey’s job to get them to tune in.  But it’s (very exciting for) both Jerry and I to know that we’re part of bringing theater, you know, to – right into your home, I mean when I was a kid and I’m much younger than Jerry by maybe 30 or 40 years. I remember watching that Peter Pan — Mary Martin and Peter Pan — and it was my favorite thing to look forward to whenever they would be broadcasted. I was just in absolute heaven. And I’m hoping that we’re doing the same by doing these. You never know. You do every performance and you just hope that you’re changing lives out there and you kind of trust that you are. And that’s the way we approach this.

 

Q) One of the big things that goes on during the broadcast is a lot of tweeting and people posting on social media. Will you look at any of that afterwards?

 

Harvey Fierstein:   You know I was part of The Wiz. And I just – I didn’t. But people told me about it. There was a huge, huge swell of activity especially among African American viewers during The Wiz. And they were really tweeting about, you know, what a great time they were having and that was very exciting to me because then you really know you’re reaching people. But in a funny way I would like, like texting and driving, I’d really wish you’d just watch it.

 

Q) Jerry, when you first did Hairspray on Broadway in 2002 I want to know the differences in the generations of dancers because they’re so cross-trained now in so many different styles. Do you feel like it’s helped the dance industry or do you think less of a classical training has hurt the dance industry?

 

Jerry Mitchell:       Well it depends on the show you’re working on. I always say a ballet base is great for any dancer because it just helps you maintain your body no matter what you’re doing. I mean these kids here they’re dancing on a sound stage. And then have to run outside and dance on pavement for the next production number. They don’t have time to warmup between numbers. And once the show starts it’s going full steam ahead. We’ve been starting every day here with a warmup just to get them used to warming themselves up for this event. But I don’t think that – look I’m always for a ballet base. It helps. It helps you pick up different styles. The dance here, the thing that I’ve been trying to educate the kids about and even made them watch a documentary on the twist was just the styles and the different way people held their bodies and danced. John Waters once said to me that this show takes place in 1962. And American – America was still innocent at that time. And people danced from the waist up. So it’s just a different style.

 

 

Q) My question is for both of you. Can you just talk a little bit each of you, and we’ll start with Harvey, but a little bit about how your love of musical theater began? And with this cast of young actors what advice would you give them in their careers going forward? And we’ll start with Harvey.

 

Harvey Fierstein:   Well I was brought up in Brooklyn, New York. And I had a mother who loved art. We went to a museum. We went to a Broadway show. We went to a premier movie every weekend. Tickets back then for the balcony were $3. So she could buy tickets for the four us, my brother, my father, she and I for $12. We could take the subway into Manhattan and see a Broadway show. So we saw everything. And I can actually go into the theaters, into the Broadway theaters and show you the seat I sat in to see Oliver, to see How To Succeed, to see Sound of Music, to see these Broadway shows that are now, you know, the classics that we think of as the Golden Age. I saw them all. So of course I love them.  But I was a painting student. And I got into theater really because I thought maybe I would do some set design or something. Everything else just sort of happened.  But I always loved theater and that – and was brought up in theater. And that’s the reason that I’m so in love with this idea of bringing theater into people’s homes.

 

Jerry Mitchell:       Well I grew up in a very small town in the Midwest where there was one stoplight. And I started dancing and got involved in everything I could possibly get involved in from the age of 8 when I joined the Paw Paw Village Players to do The Music Man until I left town at 17 to be doing national tour of West Side Story. But I think the thing that I would tell young people and I tell them often is that they have got to be passionate about being in this business. If they’re not passionate about it, it won’t show up on the screen. It won’t show up on stage. It won’t show up anywhere. And there are too many people who are passionate so if you really want a career in this business you got to love it more than anything else. And really dedicate yourself to that on every level. And the only other piece of advice that I’d give them is learn to project.  And when Harvey does something on set Harvey does something 110%. And all of the young kids who do it and then they don’t – and then they mark the next time, they see Harvey leading by example. And so you have to step up to the plate. You have to step up to the plate.  Your performance, you know, can never be oh I’ll do it the next time. That isn’t the way it works, not in live theater. It’s every time full out all the time. And if you don’t have the energy for that then you really have to question are you in the right business because that’s what it takes.

 

Q) And is that true even in rehearsal that you should sort of do the rehearsal as if you’re doing the actual show?

 

Jerry Mitchell:       Why not? Like you’re stretching your muscles…why wouldn’t you use everything you’ve got every time you’ve got a chance to use it.

 

Q) Well Jerry has it been difficult for you or challenging for you to sort of work around everybody else’s schedule because right now Derek just finished Dancing with the Stars? So have you had a lot of chance to work with him yet?

 

Jerry Mitchell:       No, no. He finished actually a couple weeks ago. But we scheduled our schedule based on their schedules. So I’ve had tons of time with Derek. And Derek is amazing. Derek comes in and he is full out. He does it. He learns it quicker than anybody else. And then he gives it back to you.  And Derek has never once in all of our rehearsals said oh I don’t like that step can I try this, can I – he has been unbelievable, unbelievable. I mean really like super, super talent and a super sweet man. And I’m really excited to have this opportunity to work with him. All of the kids, all of the kids are great. They’re really great. The one difference between film and television as opposed to theater is it’s quiet because the camera picks everything up. And on stage you can’t bring a stage – a stage performance needs more than a television and film performance. It needs projection. And that’s what I mean by I would teach them the difference between projecting for the stage and projecting for TV and film. They’re two different worlds.

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*