John Waters’ ‘Hairspray’ to Be Restyled as Musical

John Waters on Broadway?

Waters’ last project, “Hairspray,” may yet squirt into another life form, having already logged time as a hit feature film, videocassette and record album. The film has been optioned as a Broadway musical.

For an undisclosed sum, Hollywood producer Scott Rudin has obtained the rights to develop the film into a stage show, according to Robert Shaye, the president of New Line Cinema, which released the film. Plans are under way to put together a writing team. No opening date has been projected.

“I think it’s great,” Waters said from the Los Angeles sound stage where he is supervising the mix on his new film “Cry-Baby,” readying it for April release. “This has been in the works for a long time, and I think it has all the elements for a great musical. What we need is a 15-year-old Ethel Merman to play the lead.”

Waters also said he thinks a woman should play the part originated on screen by the late Divine, the immense cross-dressing actor whose presence was a hallmark in the director’s films over the years.

“There’s only one Divine,” Waters said.

Released in February, 1988, “Hairspray” earned $7 million at the box office and won wide-spread critical acclaim.

The movie, set in the Baltimore of 1962, followed as a plump teen-ager--played by Ricki Lake--tried to find a place on a TV dance show. From there it segued into a meditation on the sometimes sharp differences between attractive people and unattractive people and used that as a platform to explore racial prejudice.