You’ve heard right! Ariana Grande will be playing Penny Pingleton, best friend of Tracy Turnblad (Maddie Baillio) in NBC’s production of Hairspray Live! As all of us Arianator’s know, Ariana is a huge musical theatre geek so we can’t begin to imagine how much she is most likely freaking out right now.
https://twitter.com/arianagrande/status/751128842459156481
Ariana went on to express how much she has wanted to embrace the role of Penny after watching Kerry Butler play the part on Broadway when she was 9 years old.
https://twitter.com/arianagrande/status/751129504811065344
Kerry Butler took to Twitter to show Ariana how thrilled she was about her getting the role and said she was perfect for it. We couldn’t agree more!
??You are PERFECT for Penny!! My daughter and I still watch you on Victorious. So excited for you!! https://t.co/NZjwooQ9iV
— Kerry Butler (she/her) (@KerryButlerNyc) July 7, 2016
@ArianaGrandeI'm serious.You aren't afraid to be funny and nerdy! Then there's your voice! ?Can't wait to see your take! So happy it's you!
— Kerry Butler (she/her) (@KerryButlerNyc) July 7, 2016
https://twitter.com/arianagrande/status/751130428380065792
Her co-stars such as Derek Hough (Corny Collins) and Kristen Chenoweth (Velma Von Tussle) have welcomed Ariana to the Hairspray family while her new TV best friend Maddie Baillio is experiencing her very first fangirling moment.
Welcome to the family @ArianaGrande. This just keeps getting better and better https://t.co/pR2wsuBjnt
— Derek Hough (@derekhough) July 7, 2016
https://twitter.com/maddiebaillio/status/751149753900015616
https://twitter.com/arianagrande/status/751153406102736896
So we’ve had Grease Live and now we’re about to be blown away with a new recreation of Hairspray! 2016 has definitely been the greatest year for bringing back such iconic musicals. Many roles are still yet to be announced such as Seaweed and most importantly, who will be playing Link? We can’t wait to find out the whole cast!
Ariana is the perfect addition, especially as Penny and she is for sure going to slay her whole performance!
Hairspray Live will make its debut appearance on NBC, December 7th.
How excited are you for Hairspray Live? Tweet us over at @CelebMix!