Nikki Blonsky was nowhere to be found during Wednesday night's Hairspray Live!, despite the two other most notable Tracy Turnblads making cameo appearances.

In Wednesday night's Hairspray Live!, Maddie Baillio was the latest actress to step into the spunky shoes of Tracy Turnblad, the production's lead character. But there were also surprise cameos from two actresses who have played the role in the past: Ricki Lake, who played Tracy in the original 1988 movie, and Marissa Jaret Winokur, who played the role in the first Broadway production.

Yet Blonsky did not show up at all, despite playing Tracy in the 2007 movie musical adaptation of Hairspray. Twitter was abuzz throughout the evening when it became clear that Blonsky was not showing up.

Blonsky's performance was critically acclaimed at the time, scoring a Golden Globe nomination and a Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Performer. It's safe to assume that young viewers of Hairspray Live! were perhaps most familiar with Blonsky's interpretation of Tracy, so why exactly did she not show up to the production?

The answer to this is not entirely clear, but based on Blonsky's social media before the production she wasn't exactly the most vocal person as far as promoting it. She did, however, post a new photo on Instagram late last night of herself behind-the-scenes at the Hairspray movie and congratulated the Hairspray Live! cast in her caption:


It is unknown if Blonsky turned down a cameo appearance in Wednesday night's show or if she was even asked by NBC. For now, Blonsky is still keeping busy with other projects. The actress has a voice in the upcoming family film Pup Star and also recently posted a photo of herself with Burt Reynolds on a different movie.


Hairspray Live! is now available to watch on NBC.com, the NBC app and in select clips on Hulu and YouTube.

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Hairspray Live, Musical