Marc Malkin

EXCLUSIVE: Read it here first...

The Ugly Betty Musical!

Ugly Betty ABC/John Clifford

Get ready for a singing and dancing Ugly Betty.

Yes, we'll probably be seeing—and hearing—a musical episode of the hit television series. "We've been begging for a musical episode since episode one," America Ferrera said at last night's Ugly Betty panel discussion at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in Hollywood.

Executive producer Marco Pennette announced, "Yes, we're working on it." 

That was just one of the many exciting Betty nuggets that were revealed last night. Here's what else I got for ya: 

Will Betty and Henry finally bump uglies in the May 17 season finale? Sounds like it. "It's a very exciting development for the relationship," said Christopher Gorham, who plays Henry. "I can't say what, but it was fun to shoot." 

Silvio Horta Jerome Ware/ZUMApress.com

Show creator Silvio Horta, left, said that the development of the series included many different scenarios for their Ugly heroine. One idea? "An FBI agent undercover at a fashion magazine," Horta said.

Horta also said that there was a lot of discussion and dissection of Betty's thick-browed and brace-face look before the show debuted. "We found the fine line of just ugly enough," he said. 

Even if the series lasts longer than most people have to endure their own braces, Horta said Betty won't be losing them anytime soon. He says some people have braces for—he's done the research!—"many many years, like, seven years!"

The episode in which Marc, played by Michael Urie, comes out to his mom was Urie and Ferrera's idea. So, how has Urie morphed into Marc? "I'm growing to be more like my character," Urie said. "I noticed I have a flair for color." 

Vanessa Williams Dale Woods/WireImage.com

Vanessa Williams admitted she had a real-life Wilhelmina Slater moment when shooting an episode in which her diva character gets a pedicure that includes soaking her feet in water full of fish that apparently eat away your feet's dead skin.

"I pulled a Wilhelmina for that," Williams said. "I flew in my manicurist-pedicurist from New York [to the L.A. set] because I knew my feet would be featured." (If you're wondering, the fish procedure is real and said to be quite popular in Japan.)

Salma Hayek Nancy Kaszerman/ZUMAPress.com

Ferrera said she didn't have the option of not taking her now star-making role because Betty co-executive producer Salma Hayek's sales pitch was so convincing. Ferrera remembered Hayek telling her that Betty would be the "biggest hit since Mary Tyler Moore." Besides, Ferrera said, "I was staring at her boobs the whole time."

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