Nikki Blonsky Source: Screencap/Peacock/YouTube

Watch: Out 'Hairspray' Star Nikki Blonsky in Trailer for Prison Break Drama 'Bosco'

Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 5 MIN.

Lesbian "Hairspray" star Nikki Blonsky co-stars in Peacock's upcoming prison break drama "Bosco." The actor's new role is that of "Tammy," a woman who meets a man serving a 35-year sentence at a maximum security prison and agrees to help him escape so he can be present at the birth of his son.

Based on the true story of a 2006 prison escape, Quawntay "Bosco" Adams (Aubrey Joseph), learning he's about to become a father, plans to regain his freedom with the help of Tammy, whom he's gotten to know through a personal ad.

A trailer for the movie dropped Jan. 12. Blonsky, who portrayed Tracy Turnblad in the 2007 musical remake of "Hairspray," appears in brief moments throughout the trailer; in one exchange, in which Adams and Tammy speak via phone from opposite sides of security glass, Quawntay tells Tammy, "Prisons aren't inescapable; they're just meant to feel that way."

The trailer is littered with images of violence that paint a grim picture of life on the inside of the penal system. Throughout the trailer, images show a mob of riot gear-clad guards beating a shirtless man with their batons. At other moments, a smirking prison guard played by Thomas Jane taunts Quawntay every chance he gets. At one point, Jane's guard demands of Adams, who is seen poring over a book, "You think reading's gonna save you?"

In this case, the answer is yes: There's a chisel secreted away in the book, which Adams uses to saw a hole in the ceiling of his cell in solitary confinement despite being subjected to continuous 24/7 surveillance.

When the trailer returns to the conversation between Adams and Tammy, Blonsky's character – swaddled in a bulky, stoll-like garment over a lacy lingerie-like top – tells the father-to-be, "I would like to help you."

"I want that more than anything in the world," Adams replies.

In another quick cut, Blonsky's Tammy sits watching in a car, exclaiming, "Oh my gosh!"

The film's logline and various reports say that Adams was sentenced to 35 years and locked up in a maximum security facility for the crime of "attempting to possess marijuana."

According to court documents, Adams was previously charged and convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in 1993 after "Adams 'assaulted youth counselor Karen Tzikas, hitting her multiple times with a sock containing a can of beans while another ward held her down.'"

"Adams argues the California 'Adult Superior Court lacked jurisdiction to prosecute and sentence Adams as an adult,' because he was 17 years old at the time of the offense and sentence, although the California court erroneously believed he was 20 years old," the court documents say.

Social media users recalled Blonsky's own brush with the law, arising from a fight with the family of Bianca Golden at an airport. "The fight erupted at the Providenciales International Airport, where the Blonsky family was waiting to fly home from a Caribbean vacation in the Turks and Caicos. Blonsky says that the Golden family – including Bianca, her mother Elaine and her brother George – grew angry when some passengers were saving seats in the departure area," People Magazine reported. Blonksy and Bianca Golden were both charged with assault, according to the article.


But at X (formerly Twitter), the memes flew, loaded with references to the incident.






Others expressed enthusiasm for Blonsky's new role.








Will you be watching when "Bosco" premieres on Peacock on Feb. 2?


by Kilian Melloy , EDGE Staff Reporter

Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.

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