Screen to stage to screen again: Here comes Hairspray the Musical the Movie

Variety reports that the Tony-winning stage musical adaptation of John Waters's 1988 movie Hairspray is making its own way to the big screen, this time to be codirected by the play's director, Jack O'Brien, and its choreographer, Jerry Mitchell. Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan will adapt their book (based on Waters's original script) for the film, and out composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman will write the music. New Line hopes to have the film in theaters by 2006. While no casting has yet been confirmed, it is believed that Tony-winner Marisa Jaret Winokur has a lock on once again playing Tracy Turnblad, who shimmies her way onto Baltimore's Corny Collins Show and fights for integration in the early '60s.