Meet the Cast of Hairspray

Although musicals require a lot of hard work, Latifah says she loves it. "I like the challenge of rehearsing with acting and dancing and singing and being pushed to your limits and your stamina, having to stay up all the time," she says. "It's wonderful. I think it's the most enjoyable kind of filming to do."

Latifah says when she first saw John in his full Edna costume—complete with the curvaceous body suit—she knew he would nail the role. "We walked into a rehearsal at the same time, and they were choreographing him, and his little tush was shaking. It's like, 'That's John Travolta right there,'" she says. "I'm like, 'He is about to work this.' And then when I saw the costume, it had a body. It had curves. It wasn't just—it was a real woman."

As John danced with his prosthetic legs, Latifah says she was even a little jealous! "The legs on the daggone thing—him, her—were gorgeous, and I'm a little tomboy growing up and I tore my knees up," she says. "I'm like, 'Look at those pretty legs on John!'"