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Hairspray (musical)
Encyclopedia
Hairspray is a musical
with music by Marc Shaiman
, lyrics by Scott Wittman
and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell
and Thomas Meehan
, based on the 1988 John Waters
film Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues
. In 1962 Baltimore
, Maryland
, plump teenager Tracy Turnblad's dream is to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance program based on the real-life Buddy Deane Show. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight. She then launches a campaign to integrate the show. Hairspray is a social commentary on the injustices of parts of American society in the 1960s.
The musical's original Broadway
production opened on August 15, 2002 and won eight Tony Award
s out of thirteen nominations. It ran for over 2,500 performances and closed on January 4, 2009. Hairspray has also had national tours, a London West End
production, and numerous foreign productions and was adapted as a 2007 musical film
. The London production was nominated for a record-setting eleven Laurence Olivier Awards
, winning for Best New Musical and in three other categories.
release, theatre producer Margo Lion
first conceived of Hairspray as a stage musical in 1998 after seeing a television broadcast of the original film. She contacted John Waters, who gave her his blessing, then acquired the rights from New Line Cinema
. Lion contacted Marc Shaiman, who expressed interest in the project only if his partner Scott Wittman could be included, and Lion agreed. The two submitted three songs – one of which, "Good Morning Baltimore," eventually became the show's opening number. Based on their initial work, Lion was confident that she had hired the right team.
Lion contacted Rob Marshall
about directing the musical. At the time he was involved in negotiations to direct the screen adaptation of Chicago
, but he agreed to become involved in the early development stages of Hairspray with the stipulation he would drop out if assigned the film. Marshall remembered Marissa Jaret Winokur
from her brief appearance in the film American Beauty
and arranged a meeting with Shaiman and Wittman. The two immediately felt she was right for the role of Tracy Turnblad but were hesitant to commit without seeing any other auditions. They hired Winokur to work with them on the project with the understanding she might be replaced later. One year later, Winokur was diagnosed with cervical cancer
. Certain she would lose the role if the creative team learned about her condition, she underwent chemotherapy
and a hysterectomy
without telling anyone but her immediate family. The treatment and surgery were successful, and Winokur returned to the project. Meanwhile, Marshall had started work on Chicago, and Jack O'Brien
and Jerry Mitchell
were hired by Lion to direct and choreograph, respectively. Winokur was one of the first to audition for the role of Tracy Turnblad and spent two years preparing with voice and dance lessons. Tracy's mother had been portrayed by Divine in the original film, and Shaiman liked the idea of maintaining the tradition of casting a male as Edna Turnblad. Harvey Fierstein
auditioned for the role with a "half hour vocal audition". He thought they were "pacifying" him, but he was told "they don't want anyone but you".
According to Shaiman, one song, "I Know Where I've Been", became controversial during the genesis of the score:
's 5th Avenue Theatre
, Hairspray opened on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre
on August 15, 2002. The production was directed by Jack O'Brien
and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell
, with set design by David Rockwell
, costume design by William Ivey Long
, lighting design by Kenneth Posner
, sound design by Steve C. Kennedy, and the many distinctive wigs in the show by Paul Huntley. The original Broadway cast included Marissa Jaret Winokur
and Harvey Fierstein
in the lead roles of Tracy and Edna respectively. The cast also featured Matthew Morrison
, Laura Bell Bundy
, Kerry Butler
, Linda Hart
, Mary Bond Davis
, Corey Reynolds
, Jackie Hoffman
and Dick Latessa
. The Dynamites were played by Kamilah Marshall, Shayna Steele and Judine Richard.
Hairspray received Tony Award
nominations in 12 categories, winning eight, including for best musical, book, score and direction. Winokur, Fierstein and Latessa received awards for their performances. The production ran for more than six years, closing on January 4, 2009 after 2,642 performances. Fierstein and Winokur returned to the cast for the final performances.
production opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre
on October 11, 2007 for previews before its official opening on October 30. Michael Ball
played Edna, with Mel Smith
as Wilbur Turnblad, newcomer Leanne Jones
as Tracy, Tracie Bennett
as Velma, Paul Manuel as Corny Collins, Rachael Wooding as Amber, Elinor Collett as Penny, and Ben James-Ellis
as Link. The original creative team of the Broadway production, with director Jack O'Brien
and choreographer Jerry Mitchell
, reunited for the London production. The show garnered a record-setting eleven Olivier Award nominations and won for Best New Musical, as well as acting awards for Best Actress and Actor in a musical (Jones and Ball). The production closed on March 28, 2010 after a run of nearly two-and-a-half years and over 1,000 performances.
at the Princess Theatre
on October 2, 2010 to critical acclaim. It was directed by David Atkins
and choreographed by So You Think You Can Dance Australia
judge Jason Coleman. The show moved to Sydney from June 23, 2011. The cast includes Jaz Flowers as Tracy, Trevor Ashley
as Edna, Jack Chambers
as Link, and Tevin Campbell
reprising his role from the Broadway production as Seaweed J. Stubbs. Atkins redesigned the production using new technologies. The set uses enormous LED screens, which move around the stage in various combinations, as the characters interact with animated landscapes generated across the screens.. The musical opened at Sydney
's Lyric Theatre
at The Star Casino on 11 June 2011 and closed on 9 October 2011, ending its Australian run.
In July 2006, a non-Equity U.S. and Asian tour opened in Atlantic City's Harrah's Casino. The shorter "casino version" was used for this six week run, but when the tour moved on, it continued with the full version of the show minus the character of Lorraine. The production starred Brooklynn Pulver as Tracy, Jerry O'Boyle as Edna, Dan Ferretti as Wilbur, Constantine Rousouli as Link, Christian Dante White as Seaweed, Alyssa Malgeri as Penny, Jarret Mallon as Corny, Happy McPartlin as Velma, Pearl Thomas as Amber and Yvette Clark as Motormouth Maybelle. Th tour played sit down engagements in Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing. It played its final performance on April 25, 2010 at the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside, California
.
After the West End production closed, Hairspray began touring the UK and the Republic of Ireland, starting at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff
on April 7, 2010, following previews from March 30. The tour stars Michael Ball, Brian Conley
and Michael Starke alternating as Edna, Les Dennis
, Nigel Planer
and Micky Dolenz
alternating as Wilbur and Laurie Scarth as Tracy.
A Las Vegas
production ran at the Luxor Hotel
in 2006 starring Katrina Rose Dideriksen
as Tracy, Austin Miller
as Link, and Fierstein and Latessa reprising their roles as Edna and Wilbur. This ninety-minute version was played in one act. Cut songs included "The Big Dollhouse", "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs", "Velma's Revenge", "Good Morning Baltimore (Reprise)", and "Cooties".
Royal Caribbean International
Royal Caribbean International
presents the show on their new ship MS Oasis of the Seas
, which made its maiden sail in December 2009. The show is performed in the ship's 1350 seat Opal Theater three or four times on each seven-night cruise.
Hollywood Bowl
A production at the Hollywood Bowl
ran from August 5–7, 2011, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell
. Original Broadway cast members Fierstein and Winokur reprised their roles as Edna and Tracy Turnblad. The cast also featured Corbin Bleu
(Seaweed J. Stubbs), Drew Carey
(Wilbur), Diana DeGarmo
(Penny), Mo Gaffney
(Prudy and others), Nick Jonas
(Link Larkin), Darlene Love
(Motormouth Maybelle), Susan Anton
(Velma Von Tussle) and John Stamos
.
in April 2004 and ran for 245 performances. Vanessa Olivarez
, a former American Idol
contestant, starred as Tracy, and Jay Brazeau starred as Edna. Stephanie Pitsiladis, cast as the standby for Vanessa, is the first Canadian to have portrayed the role of Tracy Turnblad.
A South Africa
n production opened in Johannesburg
in October 2007 with the original direction and choreography recreated by Matt Lenz and Greg Graham. New set and costume designs were by Michael Bottari and Ronald Case. A production in Buenos Aires
, Argentina, opened on July 16, 2008 starring Enrique Pinti
as Edna. The role of Tracy was cast through a reality-competition show called Yo Quiero Ser la Protagonista de Hairspray' (I Want to Be Hairspray's Protagonist).
On November 14, 2008, a production of Hairspray in Manila
in the Philippines, starring Madel Ching as Tracy and Michael de Mesa as Edna. The production closed on December 7, 2008. On July 10, 2009, a Brazilian production opened in Rio de Janeiro
, starring Simone Gutierrez as Tracy and Edson Celulari as Edna. A 2010 Brazilian tour stopped in São Paulo
, Brasilia
, Curitiba
and Porto Alegre
.
A Dutch production ran during the 2009/2010 season. Edna Turnblad was played by Arjan Ederveen and Link was Jim Bakkum
(runner-up in the first season of the Dutch American Idol
). On December 6, 2009 a German production opened in Cologne
. Edna is played alternately by Uwe Ochsenknecht
and comedian Tetje Mierendorf
. Tracy is played by Maite Kelly, former member of The Kelly Family
and Penny is Jana Stelley. The first production of Hairspray in the German language, however, took place at the Theater St. Gallen
, Switzerland
. A recreation of the Broadway/West End production of the show opened in Dubai
in July 2010 with Leanne Jones
, from the West End production, reprising her role as Tracy and Antony Stuart-Hicks as Edna.
Other productions opened in Canada, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Italy, St. Gallen, Switzerland (in German) and Brazil. The musical also played in Shanghai
, China, at the Shanghai Grand Theatre
in July 2008 and Stockholm
, Sweden in September 2008. Other productions are planned for France
, Israel
, Denmark
, Iceland
, Norway
and Mexico
. Hairspray has been translated into German, Finnish
, Spanish
, Japanese
, Korean
, Italian
, and Portuguese
.
, which followed the development of a North London comprehensive school
's production of Hairspray from audition to performance, with input from various actors and creatives, including members of the Broadway production team and the West End cast.
The first amateur MTI production was produced at the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in the summer of 2008.
After gaining permission and support from her father, Wilbur, Tracy auditions for the show and bumps into teenage heartthrob, Link Larkin, which leads into a dream sequence ("I Can Hear the Bells"). Velma Von Tussle, the racist producer of The Corny Collins Show, rejects Tracy from the audition because of her size ("(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs"), as well as refusing a black girl, Little Inez.
Back at school, Tracy is sent to detention for her "monumental hair-don't". There she meets black dancer, Seaweed J. Stubbs (the son of the host of Negro Day, Motormouth Maybelle), who teaches her several dance moves. She uses the new dance steps at the Sophomore Hop the following day to introduce herself to Corny Collins ("The Madison"). When Corny sees how well Tracy can dance, he gives her a place on the show ("The Nicest Kids in Town" (Reprise)). During the broadcast, Link, following Corny’s suggestion, sings "It Takes Two" to Tracy, much to Amber’s dismay. After the show, Mr. Spritzer, the show’s worrisome sponsor, appeals to Velma over Tracy’s appointment to the Council. Velma, threatening to fire Corny from the show, is eventually left distraught and determines to ruin Tracy ("Velma’s Revenge").
At the Turnblad house, Edna is receiving calls from fans who saw Tracy on the show. A call comes in from Mr. Pinky, the owner of a plus-size dress shop, for an endorsement. Tracy pleads with her mother to come with her and to act as her agent although Edna has not left their apartment in years. Finally making it outside, Edna is given a huge makeover, as she is told, ("Welcome to the 60's") and Tracy becomes the spokes-girl for the shop. At school, signs of Tracy’s fame are evident in the schoolyard, with graffiti on the walls and another Council Member sporting Tracy’s signature hairdo. During a game of dodge ball, a jealous Amber knocks Tracy out, and Link rushes to her side. Penny and Seaweed, who have developed a liking for each other, rush to fetch the school nurse, only to find her out sick. Seaweed, suggesting that some fun would make Tracy feel better, invites all of them to his mother’s record shop for a platter party ("Run and Tell That!").
At the shop, Tracy rallies everyone to march against the station on the following day’s Mother-Daughter Day, as blacks are not allowed on the show except for the monthly Negro Day. Before they start, Motormouth Maybelle convinces the initially reluctant Edna and Wilbur to march as well. During the protest, led by Motormouth, Velma calls the police and fights break out. When the police arrive on the scene, almost everyone is arrested ("Big, Blonde, and Beautiful").
During the night, Link sneaks into the jail where he finds Tracy in solitary confinement. As Link and Tracy reunite, Penny’s mother, Prudy, punishes Penny for “going to jail without her permission” and ties her up in her bedroom where Seaweed comes to her rescue. Both couples declare their love for one another ("Without Love"). After escaping from their respective prisons, the couples seek refuge at Motormouth Maybelle’s Record Shop. Tracy thinks that it is unfair that after all of their hard work, The Corny Collins Show is still segregated. They devise a plan to help integrate the show, and Motormouth remembers their long fight for equality ("I Know Where I’ve Been").
On the day of the Miss Teenage Hairspray competition, Corny Collins starts the show with a song ("It’s) Hairspray"). Amber shows off her talents in a bid to get more votes from the viewers ("Cooties"). Just as the results are about to be announced, Tracy (whose hair is straightened as a sign of her "non-conformity to the man") takes over the stage, and is joined by Link, Penny (now transformed from drool to cool), Seaweed, Edna, Wilbur, Little Inez, and Motormouth. Tracy is declared the winner of the competition and Corny declares The Corny Collins Show to finally be racially integrated. When all is announced, Mr. Spritzer runs onstage thrilled with the public’s response to the telecast and announces that the governor has pardoned Tracy and he offers Link a recording contract and Velma the position of vice president of Ultra Glow – beauty products for women of color. Prudy arrives at the station and, seeing how happy Penny is with Seaweed, accepts her daughter for who she is. At the height of the moment, the company invites Amber and Velma to join the celebration. With the station in joyous celebration, Tracy and Link cement their love with a kiss ("You Can’t Stop the Beat").
Act II
†Not on the cast recording.
After Tracy eventually made it on the show, there was a song "The New Girl in Town", which was sung first by the black girls and later by the Council Girls. Although later cut early during the Seattle tryout, it was included in the 2007 movie
and appears in the show’s instrumental score. "The Mother-Daughter Cha-Cha-Cha" was another cut number that originally followed "Big, Blonde, and Beautiful". Later, the writers absorbed the protest rally and Mother-Daughter Day into the number, thus deleting the song and folding the sequence into a single scene. A song called "Step on Up" was also cut in favor of "I Know Where I’ve Been". Early on in the genesis of the show, the plot involved a "Miss Auto Show" competition, as in the 1988 film, instead of "Miss Teenage Hairspray". For this competition, later revised due to the cost of cars onstage, there was a song called "Take a Spin" sung by Corny in the place where “(It’s) Hairspray” is now. After Amber’s rendition of "Cooties", Tracy had a song before the finale called "It Ain’t Over ’Til the Fat Lady Sings," though, it was cut after the third reading of the show; it was included as a track on the Special Edition of the 2007 motion picture's soundtrack.
, Hairspray received thirteen favorable and four mixed reviews. Charles Isherwood, in his Variety Magazine review wrote: "...this sweet, infinitely spirited, bubblegum-flavored confection won't be lacking for buyers any time soon. Arriving in an aerosol fog of advance hype, it more than lives up to its promise." Ben Brantley
wrote: "So what if it's more than a little pushy in its social preaching? Stocked with canny, deliriously tuneful songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and directed by Jack O'Brien with a common touch that stops short of vulgarity, 'Hairspray' is as sweet as a show can be without promoting tooth decay. ...[it] succeeds in recreating the pleasures of the old-fashioned musical comedy without seeming old-fashioned. ...Shaiman... is taking the infectious hooks and rhythms from period pop and R&B and translating them into the big, bouncy sound that Broadway demands.... And while the savvy arrangements... nod happily to Motown, Elvis, Lesley Gore
ballads and standards like "Higher and Higher," the score's appeal isn't nostalgic. It's music that builds its own self-contained, improbably symmetrical world...." New York's Daily News wrote, "As Tracy, Marissa Jaret Winokur has the heft, the pipes and an enormously appealing stage presence. Her dancing may not be as special as the plot suggests, but she wins your heart... With this role, Fierstein places himself in the great line of Broadway divas."
and starred John Travolta
as Edna Turnblad, Zac Efron
as Link Larkin, Michelle Pfeiffer
as Velma Von Tussle, Christopher Walken
as Wilbur Turnblad, Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad, Amanda Bynes
as Penny Pingleton, James Marsden
as Corny Collins, Brittany Snow as Amanda Von Tussle, and Queen Latifah
as "Motormouth" Maybelle.
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
with music by Marc Shaiman
Marc Shaiman
Marc Shaiman is an American composer, lyricist, arranger, and performer for films, television, and theatre. He is perhaps best known for writing the music and co-writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the cult John Waters film Hairspray, for which Shaiman won Tony and Grammy...
, lyrics by Scott Wittman
Scott Wittman
Scott Wittman is an American director, lyricist, and writer for Broadway, concerts, and television.Wittman was raised in Nanuet, New York graduated high Nanuet Senior High School in 1972 and attended Emerson College in Boston for two years before leaving to pursue a career in musical theatre in...
and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell
Mark O'Donnell
Mark O’Donnell is an American writer and humorist. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College in 1976. He was a member of the Harvard Lampoon, where he held the position of Ibis...
and Thomas Meehan
Thomas Meehan (writer)
Thomas Meehan is an American writer, best known for Annie, The Producers and Hairspray.-Life and career:Meehan grew up in Suffern, New York, and graduated from Hamilton College...
, based on the 1988 John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
film Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
. In 1962 Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, plump teenager Tracy Turnblad's dream is to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance program based on the real-life Buddy Deane Show. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight. She then launches a campaign to integrate the show. Hairspray is a social commentary on the injustices of parts of American society in the 1960s.
The musical's original Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production opened on August 15, 2002 and won eight Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s out of thirteen nominations. It ran for over 2,500 performances and closed on January 4, 2009. Hairspray has also had national tours, a London West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production, and numerous foreign productions and was adapted as a 2007 musical film
Hairspray (2007 film)
Hairspray is a 2007 musical film produced by Kolaja Productions and distributed by New Line Cinema. It was released in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom on July 20, 2007. The film is an adaptation of the 2002 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on John...
. The London production was nominated for a record-setting eleven Laurence Olivier Awards
Laurence Olivier Awards
The Laurence Olivier Award is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre. Named after the renowned British actor Laurence Olivier, they are given for West End shows and other productions staged in London...
, winning for Best New Musical and in three other categories.
Background
According to interviews included as an extra feature on the 2007 film's DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release, theatre producer Margo Lion
Margo Lion
Margo Lion is a producer for plays and musicals both on Broadway and off-Broadway. She is known for her role in producing the stage and screen hit Hairspray. Combined, the works Lion produced have won 20 Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.-Biography:...
first conceived of Hairspray as a stage musical in 1998 after seeing a television broadcast of the original film. She contacted John Waters, who gave her his blessing, then acquired the rights from New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
. Lion contacted Marc Shaiman, who expressed interest in the project only if his partner Scott Wittman could be included, and Lion agreed. The two submitted three songs – one of which, "Good Morning Baltimore," eventually became the show's opening number. Based on their initial work, Lion was confident that she had hired the right team.
Lion contacted Rob Marshall
Rob Marshall
Rob Marshall is an American theater director, film director and choreographer. He is a six-time Tony Award nominee, Academy Award nominee, Golden Globe nominee and four-time Emmy winner whose most noted work is the 2002 Academy Award for Best Picture winner Chicago.-Life and career:Marshall was...
about directing the musical. At the time he was involved in negotiations to direct the screen adaptation of Chicago
Chicago (2002 film)
Chicago is a 2002 musical film adapted from the satirical stage musical of the same name, exploring the themes of celebrity, scandal, and corruption in Jazz-age Chicago....
, but he agreed to become involved in the early development stages of Hairspray with the stipulation he would drop out if assigned the film. Marshall remembered Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur , sometimes credited as Marissa Winokur, is an American actress known for her performance as Tracy Turnblad in the highly successful Broadway musical adaptation of John Waters' film Hairspray, as well as her work on the Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked...
from her brief appearance in the film American Beauty
American Beauty (film)
American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela...
and arranged a meeting with Shaiman and Wittman. The two immediately felt she was right for the role of Tracy Turnblad but were hesitant to commit without seeing any other auditions. They hired Winokur to work with them on the project with the understanding she might be replaced later. One year later, Winokur was diagnosed with cervical cancer
Cervical cancer
Cervical cancer is malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri or cervical area. One of the most common symptoms is abnormal vaginal bleeding, but in some cases there may be no obvious symptoms until the cancer is in its advanced stages...
. Certain she would lose the role if the creative team learned about her condition, she underwent chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
and a hysterectomy
Hysterectomy
A hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus, usually performed by a gynecologist. Hysterectomy may be total or partial...
without telling anyone but her immediate family. The treatment and surgery were successful, and Winokur returned to the project. Meanwhile, Marshall had started work on Chicago, and Jack O'Brien
Jack O'Brien (director)
Jack O'Brien is an American director, producer, writer and lyricist. He served as the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California from 1981 through the end of 2007....
and Jerry Mitchell
Jerry Mitchell
Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer.-Early life and education:Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. He graduated from the Fine Arts college at Webster University in St. Louis. ...
were hired by Lion to direct and choreograph, respectively. Winokur was one of the first to audition for the role of Tracy Turnblad and spent two years preparing with voice and dance lessons. Tracy's mother had been portrayed by Divine in the original film, and Shaiman liked the idea of maintaining the tradition of casting a male as Edna Turnblad. Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Forbes Fierstein is a U.S. actor and playwright, noted for the early distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and originating the lead role in his long-running play Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family, as well as writing the...
auditioned for the role with a "half hour vocal audition". He thought they were "pacifying" him, but he was told "they don't want anyone but you".
According to Shaiman, one song, "I Know Where I've Been", became controversial during the genesis of the score:
- "This was ... inspired by a scene late in the [1988] movie that takes place on the black side of town. It never dawned on us that a torrent of protest would follow us from almost everyone involved with the show. ‘It’s too sad. ... It’s too preachy. ... It doesn’t belong. ... Tracy should sing the eleven o’clock number.’ We simply didn’t want our show to be yet another show-biz version of a civil rights story where the black characters are just background. And what could be more Tracy Turnblad-like than to give the ‘eleven o’clock number’ to the black family at the heart of the struggle? Luckily ... the audiences embraced this moment, which enriches the happy ending to follow, and it is our proudest achievement of the entire experience of writing Hairspray."
Original Broadway production
After a tryout at SeattleSeattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
's 5th Avenue Theatre
5th Avenue Theatre
The 5th Avenue Theatre is a landmark theater building located in Seattle, Washington, USA. It has hosted a variety of theatre productions and motion pictures since it opened in 1926. The building and land is owned by the University of Washington and was once part of the original campus...
, Hairspray opened on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre
Neil Simon Theatre
The Neil Simon Theatre, formerly the Alvin Theatre, is a Broadway venue built in 1927 and located at 250 West 52nd Street in midtown-Manhattan....
on August 15, 2002. The production was directed by Jack O'Brien
Jack O'Brien (director)
Jack O'Brien is an American director, producer, writer and lyricist. He served as the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California from 1981 through the end of 2007....
and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell
Jerry Mitchell
Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer.-Early life and education:Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. He graduated from the Fine Arts college at Webster University in St. Louis. ...
, with set design by David Rockwell
David Rockwell
David Rockwell is an American architect and designer, who is the founder and CEO of Rockwell Group, based in New York with satellite offices in Madrid and Dubai. Rockwell has long been fascinated with immersive environments.-Early life and education:...
, costume design by William Ivey Long
William Ivey Long
William Ivey Long is an American costume designer for stage and film. His most notable work includes The Producers, Hairspray, Nine, Crazy for You, Grey Gardens and Young Frankenstein.-Early life and education:...
, lighting design by Kenneth Posner
Kenneth Posner
Kenneth Posner is an American theatrical lighting designer, working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in American regional theatre. His most notable designs include the musicals Wicked and Hairspray, two highly regarded musicals of the early 21st century...
, sound design by Steve C. Kennedy, and the many distinctive wigs in the show by Paul Huntley. The original Broadway cast included Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur , sometimes credited as Marissa Winokur, is an American actress known for her performance as Tracy Turnblad in the highly successful Broadway musical adaptation of John Waters' film Hairspray, as well as her work on the Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked...
and Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Forbes Fierstein is a U.S. actor and playwright, noted for the early distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and originating the lead role in his long-running play Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family, as well as writing the...
in the lead roles of Tracy and Edna respectively. The cast also featured Matthew Morrison
Matthew Morrison
Matthew James "Matt" Morrison is an American actor, director, musician, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway, and most notably for his Emmy and Golden Globe nominated...
, Laura Bell Bundy
Laura Bell Bundy
Laura Ashley Bell Bundy is an American actress and singer who has performed in a number of Broadway roles, both starring and supporting, as well as in television and film. Her best known Broadway roles are the original Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray and the original Elle Woods in the musical...
, Kerry Butler
Kerry Butler
Kerry Marie Butler is an American actress known primarily for her work in theatre.-Early life and career:...
, Linda Hart
Linda Hart
Linda Hart is an American singer, musician, and actress, mainly appearing in musical theatre.- Biography :As a child, Hart sang in her church choir; at age seven, she joined her father and the rest of the family in The Harts, a weekly gospel television series. Hart attended Los Angeles City...
, Mary Bond Davis
Mary Bond Davis
-Biography:Davis began her career at the age of fifteen singing with various bands. She was a member of The Young Americans from 1974 to 1976, and appeared with them on The Bing Crosby Christmas Show....
, Corey Reynolds
Corey Reynolds
Corey Reynolds is an American musical theatre, television, and film actor known for originating the role of Seaweed in the Broadway adaptation of Hairspray, and for the TNT crime show The Closer.-Early life and career:...
, Jackie Hoffman
Jackie Hoffman
Jacqueline Laura Hoffman , known as Jackie Hoffman, is an American actress and stand-up comedian known for her facially-contorting expressions, and one-woman shows of Jewish-themed original songs and monologues...
and Dick Latessa
Dick Latessa
Richard Robert "Dick" Latessa is an American actor.Latessa was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a mother who was an automotive upholstery maker. Latessa made his Broadway debut in The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N in 1968...
. The Dynamites were played by Kamilah Marshall, Shayna Steele and Judine Richard.
Hairspray received Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nominations in 12 categories, winning eight, including for best musical, book, score and direction. Winokur, Fierstein and Latessa received awards for their performances. The production ran for more than six years, closing on January 4, 2009 after 2,642 performances. Fierstein and Winokur returned to the cast for the final performances.
Original London production
The West EndWest End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre
Shaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The theatre was designed for the brothers Walter and Frederick Melville by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of The Three Musketeers, as the New...
on October 11, 2007 for previews before its official opening on October 30. Michael Ball
Michael Ball (singer)
Michael Ashley Ball, born 27 June 1962) is a British actor, singer, and radio and TV presenter who is best known for the song "Love Changes Everything" and musical theatre roles such as Marius in Les Misérables, Alex in Aspects of Love, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Edna Turnblad...
played Edna, with Mel Smith
Mel Smith
Melvin Kenneth "Mel" Smith is an English comedian, writer, film director, producer, and actor. He is most famous for his work on the sketch comedy shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Griff Rhys Jones.- Early life :Smith's father, Kenneth, was born...
as Wilbur Turnblad, newcomer Leanne Jones
Leanne Jones
Leanne Jones is a British actress. She was born in Stoke on Trent and grew up in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, where she attended St Ivo School, before studying at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in Wood Green, in north London, graduating in 2006...
as Tracy, Tracie Bennett
Tracie Bennett
Tracie Bennett is an English stage and television actress. She trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in Clapham, London...
as Velma, Paul Manuel as Corny Collins, Rachael Wooding as Amber, Elinor Collett as Penny, and Ben James-Ellis
Ben James-Ellis
Benjamin James Ellis is an English stage actor who starred in the role of Link Larkin in the West End production of the musical Hairspray from its opening in October 2007 until July 2009...
as Link. The original creative team of the Broadway production, with director Jack O'Brien
Jack O'Brien (director)
Jack O'Brien is an American director, producer, writer and lyricist. He served as the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California from 1981 through the end of 2007....
and choreographer Jerry Mitchell
Jerry Mitchell
Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer.-Early life and education:Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. He graduated from the Fine Arts college at Webster University in St. Louis. ...
, reunited for the London production. The show garnered a record-setting eleven Olivier Award nominations and won for Best New Musical, as well as acting awards for Best Actress and Actor in a musical (Jones and Ball). The production closed on March 28, 2010 after a run of nearly two-and-a-half years and over 1,000 performances.
Original Australian production
An Australian production of Hairspray opened in MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
at the Princess Theatre
Princess Theatre
The Princess Theatre was a joint venture between the Shubert Brothers , producer Ray Comstock, theatrical agent Elisabeth Marbury and actor-director Holbrook Blinn...
on October 2, 2010 to critical acclaim. It was directed by David Atkins
David Atkins
David Atkins, OAM was recognised in the 2003 Queen’s Birthday Honours with a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the entertainment industry and is Australia’s most awarded producer, choreographer and director, and CEO of David Atkins Enterprises, a major-events production...
and choreographed by So You Think You Can Dance Australia
So You Think You Can Dance Australia
So You Think You Can Dance Australia was an Australian version of the American reality dance-off series So You Think You Can Dance. The show is hosted by Natalie Bassingthwaighte, with Jason Coleman, Matt Lee and Bonnie Lythgoe acting as the judges....
judge Jason Coleman. The show moved to Sydney from June 23, 2011. The cast includes Jaz Flowers as Tracy, Trevor Ashley
Trevor Ashley
Trevor Ashley is a Sydney based performer and drag artist. He has had an extensive career in cabaret, clubs, television and musical theatre in Australia....
as Edna, Jack Chambers
Jack Chambers (entertainer)
Jack Chambers is a dancer, singer, actor & choreographer, from Brisbane Australia. Jack is best known as Australia's Favourite Dancer.-Early life:...
as Link, and Tevin Campbell
Tevin Campbell
Tevin Jermod Campbell is an American R&B singer-songwriter and actor. He scored a string of R&B chart hits as a teenager in the early to mid-1990s.-Music career:...
reprising his role from the Broadway production as Seaweed J. Stubbs. Atkins redesigned the production using new technologies. The set uses enormous LED screens, which move around the stage in various combinations, as the characters interact with animated landscapes generated across the screens.. The musical opened at Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
's Lyric Theatre
Lyric Theatre, Sydney
Lyric Theatre, Sydney, Australia, is part of The Star Casino. It plays host to large scale musicals, theatre productions, opera and ballet.The Lyric Theatre was home to the world premier of Priscilla Queen of the Desert - the Musical....
at The Star Casino on 11 June 2011 and closed on 9 October 2011, ending its Australian run.
National tours
The First U.S. national tour started in September 2003 in Baltimore and ended in June 2006. It starred Carly Jibson as Tracy, Bruce Vilanch as Edna, Terron Brooks as Seaweed, Sandra DeNise as Penny, Susan Cella as Velma, and Ramona Cole (soon replaced by Charlotte Crossley) as Motormouth Maybelle. When the tour stopped in Los Angeles, Winokur reprised her role as Tracy, together with the original Broadway Link, Matthew Morrison.In July 2006, a non-Equity U.S. and Asian tour opened in Atlantic City's Harrah's Casino. The shorter "casino version" was used for this six week run, but when the tour moved on, it continued with the full version of the show minus the character of Lorraine. The production starred Brooklynn Pulver as Tracy, Jerry O'Boyle as Edna, Dan Ferretti as Wilbur, Constantine Rousouli as Link, Christian Dante White as Seaweed, Alyssa Malgeri as Penny, Jarret Mallon as Corny, Happy McPartlin as Velma, Pearl Thomas as Amber and Yvette Clark as Motormouth Maybelle. Th tour played sit down engagements in Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing. It played its final performance on April 25, 2010 at the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside, California
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
.
After the West End production closed, Hairspray began touring the UK and the Republic of Ireland, starting at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
on April 7, 2010, following previews from March 30. The tour stars Michael Ball, Brian Conley
Brian Conley
Brian Conley is an English comedian, television presenter, singer and actor. At the peak of his television career, he was the highest-paid male television personality in the UK. Outside of television, he is best known for his frequent portrayals of Buttons in pantomime versions of...
and Michael Starke alternating as Edna, Les Dennis
Les Dennis
Les Dennis is an English comedian, television presenter and actor best known as the host of Family Fortunes for 15 years.-Early life:...
, Nigel Planer
Nigel Planer
Nigel George Planer is an English actor, comedian, novelist and playwright.Planer is perhaps best known for his role as Neil Pye in the cult BBC comedy The Young Ones. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Wicked and Hairspray...
and Micky Dolenz
Micky Dolenz
George Michael "Micky" Dolenz, Jr. is an American actor, musician, television director, radio personality and theater director, best known as a member of the 1960s made-for-television band The Monkees.-Biography:...
alternating as Wilbur and Laurie Scarth as Tracy.
Other productions
Las VegasA Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
production ran at the Luxor Hotel
Luxor Hotel
Luxor Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The 30-story hotel, which is operated by MGM Resorts International, features a casino floor that includes over 2,000 slot machines and 87 table games....
in 2006 starring Katrina Rose Dideriksen
Katrina Rose Dideriksen
Katrina Rose Dideriksen is an actress originally from North Carolina. She lived in Durham, North Carolina as a child, Dideriksen attended Durham School of the Arts in high school. She later studied at New York University Steinhardt School of Education before attending an open call for the musical...
as Tracy, Austin Miller
Austin Miller
Austin Miller is an American actor, dancer, and singer, known for television and stage performances. He played the part of Hawk in the soap opera Days of our Lives, performed as the lead in the Hairspray musical in both a national tour and a Las Vegas production, and in 2007 was a second place...
as Link, and Fierstein and Latessa reprising their roles as Edna and Wilbur. This ninety-minute version was played in one act. Cut songs included "The Big Dollhouse", "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs", "Velma's Revenge", "Good Morning Baltimore (Reprise)", and "Cooties".
Royal Caribbean International
Royal Caribbean International
Royal Caribbean International
Royal Caribbean International is a Norwegian and American cruise line brand based in Miami, Florida and owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.. With 42 ships in service under 5 different brands and one more under construction, it controls a 25.6% share of the world cruise market...
presents the show on their new ship MS Oasis of the Seas
MS Oasis of the Seas
MS Oasis of the Seas is an Oasis-class cruise ship in the fleet of Royal Caribbean International. The first of her class, she was joined by her sister ship Allure of the Seas in December 2010. Both vessels cruise the Caribbean from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida...
, which made its maiden sail in December 2009. The show is performed in the ship's 1350 seat Opal Theater three or four times on each seven-night cruise.
Hollywood Bowl
A production at the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
ran from August 5–7, 2011, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell
Jerry Mitchell
Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer.-Early life and education:Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. He graduated from the Fine Arts college at Webster University in St. Louis. ...
. Original Broadway cast members Fierstein and Winokur reprised their roles as Edna and Tracy Turnblad. The cast also featured Corbin Bleu
Corbin Bleu
Corbin Bleu Reivers , known professionally as Corbin Bleu, is an American actor, model, dancer, producer, and singer-songwriter. He performed in the High School Musical film series, the Discovery Kids drama series Flight 29 Down, and the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In!...
(Seaweed J. Stubbs), Drew Carey
Drew Carey
Drew Allison Carey is an American actor, singer, comedian, photographer, sports executive, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as...
(Wilbur), Diana DeGarmo
Diana DeGarmo
Diana Nicole DeGarmo is an American singer and Broadway actress. She finished as the runner-up on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series American Idol, narrowly missing the win by about 2% out of over 65 million votes...
(Penny), Mo Gaffney
Mo Gaffney
Maureen E. "Mo" Gaffney is an American actress, comedian, writer and activist.-Biography:She hosted two of her own television talk shows: Women Aloud! and The Mo Show...
(Prudy and others), Nick Jonas
Nick Jonas
Nicholas Jerry "Nick" Jonas is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actor best known as one of the Jonas Brothers, a pop-rock band he formed with his brothers Joe and Kevin. The Jonas Brothers originally started as an attempted solo singing career for Nick, but the record producer liked the...
(Link Larkin), Darlene Love
Darlene Love
Darlene Love is an American popular music singer and actress. She gained prominence in the 1960s for the song "He's a Rebel," a #1 American single in 1962, and was part of the Phil Spector stable that produced a celebrated Christmas album in 1963....
(Motormouth Maybelle), Susan Anton
Susan Anton
-Youth:Anton attended Yucaipa High School in Yucaipa, California, and graduated in 1968. After high school, Anton attended San Bernardino Valley College...
(Velma Von Tussle) and John Stamos
John Stamos
John Phillip Stamos is an American actor, singer and musician best known for his work in television, especially in his starring role as Jesse Katsopolis on the ABC sitcom Full House. Since the cancellation of that show in 1995, Stamos has appeared in numerous television films and series. From 2006...
.
International productions
The first international production opened in Toronto at the Princess of Wales TheatrePrincess of Wales Theatre
The Princess of Wales Theatre is a 2000-seat theatre located at 300 King Street West in the heart of Toronto's Entertainment District in the downtown area...
in April 2004 and ran for 245 performances. Vanessa Olivarez
Vanessa Olivarez
Vanessa Denae Olivarez is an American singer and songwriter who is the vocalist/songwriter/autoharpist for the alt country band Granville Automatic, who has written songs for country superstars Sugarland, and appeared on the second season of the television series American Idol...
, a former American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
contestant, starred as Tracy, and Jay Brazeau starred as Edna. Stephanie Pitsiladis, cast as the standby for Vanessa, is the first Canadian to have portrayed the role of Tracy Turnblad.
A South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n production opened in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
in October 2007 with the original direction and choreography recreated by Matt Lenz and Greg Graham. New set and costume designs were by Michael Bottari and Ronald Case. A production in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina, opened on July 16, 2008 starring Enrique Pinti
Enrique Pinti
Enrique Pinti is a famous Argentine political humorist and actor.As a humorist, he performs stand-up shows with long monologues on Argentine politics and history, speaking at an extremely fast pace and resorting to a mix of common swearwords and elaborate insults to qualify notorious examples of...
as Edna. The role of Tracy was cast through a reality-competition show called Yo Quiero Ser la Protagonista de Hairspray' (I Want to Be Hairspray's Protagonist).
On November 14, 2008, a production of Hairspray in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
in the Philippines, starring Madel Ching as Tracy and Michael de Mesa as Edna. The production closed on December 7, 2008. On July 10, 2009, a Brazilian production opened in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, starring Simone Gutierrez as Tracy and Edson Celulari as Edna. A 2010 Brazilian tour stopped in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Brasilia
Brasília
Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...
, Curitiba
Curitiba
Curitiba is the capital of the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is the largest city with the biggest economy of both Paraná and southern Brazil. The population of Curitiba numbers approximately 1.75 million people and the latest GDP figures for the city surpass US$61 billion according to...
and Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...
.
A Dutch production ran during the 2009/2010 season. Edna Turnblad was played by Arjan Ederveen and Link was Jim Bakkum
Jim Bakkum
Jimmy "Jim" Johannes Bakkum is a Dutch singer, actor, stage actor and television personality. Rising to nationwide fame after becoming runner-up in the first season of Dutch singing competition series Idols, he has released five albums and made a career in musicals and film...
(runner-up in the first season of the Dutch American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
). On December 6, 2009 a German production opened in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. Edna is played alternately by Uwe Ochsenknecht
Uwe Ochsenknecht
Uwe Adam Ochsenknecht is a German actor and singer.-Work:Films Uwe Ochsenknecht has starred in include Schtonk!, Das Boot and the TV miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune.-Personal life:...
and comedian Tetje Mierendorf
Tetje Mierendorf
Tetje Mierendorf is a German comedian and a musical theatre and voice actor.- Biography :After his Abitur he completed an apprenticeship as bank teller. In 2004 he played the leading part of the German adaption of My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance. Later he was a permanent member of the ensemble of the...
. Tracy is played by Maite Kelly, former member of The Kelly Family
The Kelly Family
The Kelly Family is an Irish-American-European music group consisting of a multi-generational family, who play a repertoire of rock, pop and folk music. They have had chart and concert success in Europe and other parts of the world, especially in Germany, the Benelux countries, Scandinavia, Eastern...
and Penny is Jana Stelley. The first production of Hairspray in the German language, however, took place at the Theater St. Gallen
Theater St. Gallen
The Theater St. Gallen is a performing arts center for opera, musical, ballet, and theatre in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and considered to be the oldest professional theatre in Switzerland....
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. A recreation of the Broadway/West End production of the show opened in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
in July 2010 with Leanne Jones
Leanne Jones
Leanne Jones is a British actress. She was born in Stoke on Trent and grew up in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, where she attended St Ivo School, before studying at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in Wood Green, in north London, graduating in 2006...
, from the West End production, reprising her role as Tracy and Antony Stuart-Hicks as Edna.
Other productions opened in Canada, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Italy, St. Gallen, Switzerland (in German) and Brazil. The musical also played in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, China, at the Shanghai Grand Theatre
Shanghai Grand Theatre
The Shanghai Grand Theatre is located at the intersection of Central Boulevard and Huangpi Road South in northern part of the People's Square in Huangpu District, Shanghai, China....
in July 2008 and Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden in September 2008. Other productions are planned for France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Hairspray has been translated into German, Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
.
School adaptation
In August 2008, the British television channel Sky1 began broadcasting Hairspray: The School MusicalHairspray: The School Musical
Hairspray: The School Musical is a 2008 reality TV series, broadcast on Sky1 in the UK, charting the development of a comprehensive school's production of the Broadway and West End musical Hairspray.-Format:...
, which followed the development of a North London comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
's production of Hairspray from audition to performance, with input from various actors and creatives, including members of the Broadway production team and the West End cast.
The first amateur MTI production was produced at the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in the summer of 2008.
Act I
As “pleasantly plump” teenager Tracy Turnblad lies in bed, she muses about her love for her hometown, her love of dancing, and her desire to be famous (“Good Morning Baltimore”). She goes to school and is given a warning for "inappropriate hair height". After school, Tracy rushes home with her best friend, Penny, to catch the local teenage dance show, The Corny Collins Show (“The Nicest Kids in Town”). Edna, Tracy’s shy and plus-sized mother, is ironing and complains about the noise of the music coming from the television, while Penny’s mother, Prudy complains about it being race music. After an announcement that auditions for a place on the show will be held, Tracy begs her mother for permission to audition. Edna, fearing that Tracy will be laughed at due to her weight, refuses. Penny and Amber (the main dancer on The Corny Collins Show) have similar arguments with their mothers ("Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now").After gaining permission and support from her father, Wilbur, Tracy auditions for the show and bumps into teenage heartthrob, Link Larkin, which leads into a dream sequence ("I Can Hear the Bells"). Velma Von Tussle, the racist producer of The Corny Collins Show, rejects Tracy from the audition because of her size ("(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs"), as well as refusing a black girl, Little Inez.
Back at school, Tracy is sent to detention for her "monumental hair-don't". There she meets black dancer, Seaweed J. Stubbs (the son of the host of Negro Day, Motormouth Maybelle), who teaches her several dance moves. She uses the new dance steps at the Sophomore Hop the following day to introduce herself to Corny Collins ("The Madison"). When Corny sees how well Tracy can dance, he gives her a place on the show ("The Nicest Kids in Town" (Reprise)). During the broadcast, Link, following Corny’s suggestion, sings "It Takes Two" to Tracy, much to Amber’s dismay. After the show, Mr. Spritzer, the show’s worrisome sponsor, appeals to Velma over Tracy’s appointment to the Council. Velma, threatening to fire Corny from the show, is eventually left distraught and determines to ruin Tracy ("Velma’s Revenge").
At the Turnblad house, Edna is receiving calls from fans who saw Tracy on the show. A call comes in from Mr. Pinky, the owner of a plus-size dress shop, for an endorsement. Tracy pleads with her mother to come with her and to act as her agent although Edna has not left their apartment in years. Finally making it outside, Edna is given a huge makeover, as she is told, ("Welcome to the 60's") and Tracy becomes the spokes-girl for the shop. At school, signs of Tracy’s fame are evident in the schoolyard, with graffiti on the walls and another Council Member sporting Tracy’s signature hairdo. During a game of dodge ball, a jealous Amber knocks Tracy out, and Link rushes to her side. Penny and Seaweed, who have developed a liking for each other, rush to fetch the school nurse, only to find her out sick. Seaweed, suggesting that some fun would make Tracy feel better, invites all of them to his mother’s record shop for a platter party ("Run and Tell That!").
At the shop, Tracy rallies everyone to march against the station on the following day’s Mother-Daughter Day, as blacks are not allowed on the show except for the monthly Negro Day. Before they start, Motormouth Maybelle convinces the initially reluctant Edna and Wilbur to march as well. During the protest, led by Motormouth, Velma calls the police and fights break out. When the police arrive on the scene, almost everyone is arrested ("Big, Blonde, and Beautiful").
Act II
After the march, most of the women are locked up in a women's penitentiary ("The Big Dollhouse"). Because of Velma’s dirty tactics, the governor pardons and releases both her and Amber. Wilbur bails out the remaining people, excluding Tracy who is forced to remain in jail through another one of Velma’s manipulations. Tracy is alone and wishes that Link could be with her ("Good Morning Baltimore" (Reprise)). Back at the Har-De-Har Hut (Wilbur's joke shop), Wilbur and Edna are left destitute because of the money it cost them to bail everyone out and with Tracy still in prison. Edna sympathizes with her daughter’s dream – she had dreamt of making her “own line of queen-sized dress patterns”. She and Wilbur reminisce about their past and how they can never be parted from each other (“(You’re) Timeless to Me”).During the night, Link sneaks into the jail where he finds Tracy in solitary confinement. As Link and Tracy reunite, Penny’s mother, Prudy, punishes Penny for “going to jail without her permission” and ties her up in her bedroom where Seaweed comes to her rescue. Both couples declare their love for one another ("Without Love"). After escaping from their respective prisons, the couples seek refuge at Motormouth Maybelle’s Record Shop. Tracy thinks that it is unfair that after all of their hard work, The Corny Collins Show is still segregated. They devise a plan to help integrate the show, and Motormouth remembers their long fight for equality ("I Know Where I’ve Been").
On the day of the Miss Teenage Hairspray competition, Corny Collins starts the show with a song ("It’s) Hairspray"). Amber shows off her talents in a bid to get more votes from the viewers ("Cooties"). Just as the results are about to be announced, Tracy (whose hair is straightened as a sign of her "non-conformity to the man") takes over the stage, and is joined by Link, Penny (now transformed from drool to cool), Seaweed, Edna, Wilbur, Little Inez, and Motormouth. Tracy is declared the winner of the competition and Corny declares The Corny Collins Show to finally be racially integrated. When all is announced, Mr. Spritzer runs onstage thrilled with the public’s response to the telecast and announces that the governor has pardoned Tracy and he offers Link a recording contract and Velma the position of vice president of Ultra Glow – beauty products for women of color. Prudy arrives at the station and, seeing how happy Penny is with Seaweed, accepts her daughter for who she is. At the height of the moment, the company invites Amber and Velma to join the celebration. With the station in joyous celebration, Tracy and Link cement their love with a kiss ("You Can’t Stop the Beat").
Principal roles and casts
Principal roles and casts of major stage productions of Hairspray| Character | Description | Original Broadway Actor/Actress | Notable Broadway Replacements | Original West End Actor/Actress | Notable West End Replacements | Original Australian Actor/Actress | Hollywood Bowl Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances... Cast Actor/ Actress |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tracy Turnblad | A "pleasantly plump" teenager, who dreams of fame and fights to racially integrate The Corny Collins Show. | Marissa Jaret Winokur Marissa Jaret Winokur Marissa Jaret Winokur , sometimes credited as Marissa Winokur, is an American actress known for her performance as Tracy Turnblad in the highly successful Broadway musical adaptation of John Waters' film Hairspray, as well as her work on the Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked... |
Kathy Brier Kathy Brier Kathy Brier is an American actress and singer.-Early life:Brier grew up on Staten Island, where she attended Moore Catholic High School before studying theatre and business at Wagner College, qualifying for a Bachelor of Science in arts administration.-Career:Brier played the role of Marcie Walsh... Shannon Durig Shannon Durig Shannon Durig is an American actress, singer, and dancer best known for portraying Tracy Turnblad in the Broadway musical Hairspray, where she played over 1000 performances.... Marissa Perry Marissa Perry Marissa Perry is an American actress and singer born in Waterbury, Connecticut.Perry most recently acted in the Broadway musical Hairspray in the leading role of Tracy Turnblad.... |
Leanne Jones Leanne Jones Leanne Jones is a British actress. She was born in Stoke on Trent and grew up in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, where she attended St Ivo School, before studying at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in Wood Green, in north London, graduating in 2006... |
Chloe Hart | Jaz Flowers (Kirby Lunn - Cover) | Marissa Jaret Winokur Marissa Jaret Winokur Marissa Jaret Winokur , sometimes credited as Marissa Winokur, is an American actress known for her performance as Tracy Turnblad in the highly successful Broadway musical adaptation of John Waters' film Hairspray, as well as her work on the Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked... |
| Edna Turnblad | Tracy's kind, plus-sized mother – a drag role Drag (clothing) Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early... . Edna runs a laundry business out of her home. |
Harvey Fierstein Harvey Fierstein Harvey Forbes Fierstein is a U.S. actor and playwright, noted for the early distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and originating the lead role in his long-running play Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family, as well as writing the... |
Michael McKean Michael McKean Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St... Bruce Vilanch Bruce Vilanch Bruce Vilanch is an American comedy writer, songwriter and actor. He is a six-time Emmy Award-winner Vilanch is best known to the public for his four-year stint on Hollywood Squares, as a celebrity participant; in the entertainment industry he is best known as head writer for the show... John Pinette John Pinette John Pinette is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He has toured the comedy club circuit since the 1980s and has appeared in cinema and television... ((Blake Hammond)) Paul Vogt Paul Vogt Paul C. Vogt is an American actor and comedian best known for his work as a cast member on the sketch comedy programs MADtv, The Big Gay Sketch Show and The Rerun Show.-Life and career:... George Wendt George Wendt George Robert Wendt III is an American actor, best known for the roles of Norm Peterson and Tug Clarke on the television shows Cheers and Modern Men.-Early life:... |
Michael Ball Michael Ball (singer) Michael Ashley Ball, born 27 June 1962) is a British actor, singer, and radio and TV presenter who is best known for the song "Love Changes Everything" and musical theatre roles such as Marius in Les Misérables, Alex in Aspects of Love, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Edna Turnblad... |
Brian Conley Brian Conley Brian Conley is an English comedian, television presenter, singer and actor. At the peak of his television career, he was the highest-paid male television personality in the UK. Outside of television, he is best known for his frequent portrayals of Buttons in pantomime versions of... Phill Jupitus Phill Jupitus Phillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improvised comedian, actor, performance poet, musician and podcaster.... |
Trevor Ashley Trevor Ashley Trevor Ashley is a Sydney based performer and drag artist. He has had an extensive career in cabaret, clubs, television and musical theatre in Australia.... |
Harvey Fierstein Harvey Fierstein Harvey Forbes Fierstein is a U.S. actor and playwright, noted for the early distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and originating the lead role in his long-running play Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family, as well as writing the... |
| Amber Von Tussle | Bratty, selfish resident princess of The Corny Collins Show, despite her lack of talent. She is willing to do anything to win the Miss Teenage Hairspray pageant. | Laura Bell Bundy Laura Bell Bundy Laura Ashley Bell Bundy is an American actress and singer who has performed in a number of Broadway roles, both starring and supporting, as well as in television and film. Her best known Broadway roles are the original Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray and the original Elle Woods in the musical... |
Becky Gulsvig Becky Gulsvig Becky Gulsvig from Moorhead, Minnesota, is an American stage actress, singer, and dancer.Of Norwegian heritage, Gulsvig's mother is a teacher and her father is a financial advisor. She attended Moorhead High School, Trollwood Performing Arts School, and the Red River Dance and Performing... Haylie Duff Haylie Duff Haylie Katherine Duff is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She is the older sister of actress and singer Hilary Duff... Ashley Spencer Ashley Spencer Ashley Spencer, an Ohio native, was a contestant on NBC's show Grease: You're the One that I Want!. She was the understudy for Barbie in the Barbie in Fairytopia tour, in which she sang and danced ballet.-Grease: You're the One that I Want!:... Aubrey O'Day Aubrey O'Day Aubrey Morgan O'Day is an American singer, actress, fashion designer, television personality, and former member of the girl group Danity Kane... |
Rachael Wooding Rachael Wooding Rachael Wooding is a Yorkshire born musical theatre performer, best known for her performances in We Will Rock You, playing Meat and understudying Jenna Lee-James as Scaramouche. She most recently played Amber in the original London cast of Hairspray the Musical. Wooding left Hairspray in October... |
Zoe Rainey Nicola Brazil |
Renee Armstrong | Tara Macri |
| Velma Von Tussle | Amber's scheming mother and producer of The Corny Collins Show, who pushes her daughter to seek the stardom that she never had. | Linda Hart Linda Hart Linda Hart is an American singer, musician, and actress, mainly appearing in musical theatre.- Biography :As a child, Hart sang in her church choir; at age seven, she joined her father and the rest of the family in The Harts, a weekly gospel television series. Hart attended Los Angeles City... |
Barbara Walsh Barbara Walsh Barbara Walsh is an American musical theatre actress who has appeared in several prominent Broadway productions. Walsh is known for her Drama Desk Award winning and Tony nominated role as Trina in the Broadway production of Falsettos.... Isabel Keating Isabel Keating -Biography:Keating is widely acclaimed for her portrayal of Judy Garland in the 2003 Broadway theatre production of The Boy From Oz, starring opposite Hugh Jackman, for which she received a Tony Award nomination and for which she won the Drama Desk Award and the Theatre World Award... Michele Pawk Michele Pawk Michele Pawk is an American actress and singer.-Biography:Born in Butler, Pennsylvania, Pawk attended Allegheny College and the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, after which she spent a year working in a musical revue at Disney World... Mary Birdsong Mary Birdsong Mary Birdsong is an American actress, comedian, writer, and singer.Birdsong was born on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, one of five sisters. She may be best-known for her role as Deputy Cherisha Kimball on the Comedy Central series Reno 911!. She is a former correspondent on The Daily Show and... Karen Mason Karen Mason Karen Mason is an American theatre actress and singer.She was one of the featured cabaret vocalists at The Duplex Cabaret in the early 1980s. She has appeared at the Bay Area Cabaret, Empire Ballroom, San Francisco.... |
Tracie Bennett Tracie Bennett Tracie Bennett is an English stage and television actress. She trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in Clapham, London... |
Liz Robertson Liz Robertson Liz Robertson is an English actress and singer. She is the widow of Playwright and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner.Robertson began training at the Finch Stage School at the age of three. Her first professional employment was as a cabaret dancer at London's Savoy Hotel at the age of sixteen... Belinda Carlisle Belinda Carlisle Belinda Jo Carlisle is an American singer who gained worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands and the first such group whose members wrote their own songs and played their own instruments... Siobhán McCarthy Siobhán McCarthy Siobhán Mary Ann McCarthy is a television and stage actress. She is married to theatrical sound designer Andrew Bruce, and resides in London with her husband and two children, Kieran and Juliet.... |
Marney McQueen | Susan Anton Susan Anton -Youth:Anton attended Yucaipa High School in Yucaipa, California, and graduated in 1968. After high school, Anton attended San Bernardino Valley College... |
| Penny Pingleton | Tracy's slightly dorky, devoted and perky best friend. | Kerry Butler Kerry Butler Kerry Marie Butler is an American actress known primarily for her work in theatre.-Early life and career:... |
Jennifer Gambatese Jennifer Gambatese Jennifer "Gamby" Gambatese is an American actress and singer. She is gaining recognition by performing on stage, and even starring in Broadway productions. Gambatese has performed in the popular musical production of Disney's Tarzan.-Early life:... Diana DeGarmo Diana DeGarmo Diana Nicole DeGarmo is an American singer and Broadway actress. She finished as the runner-up on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series American Idol, narrowly missing the win by about 2% out of over 65 million votes... Caissie Levy Caissie Levy Caissie Shira Reiser , known professionally as Caissie Levy, is a Canadian stage actress and singer.-Early Life:... Alexa Vega Alexa Vega Alexa Ellesse Vega is an American actress, singer and pianist. She is best known for playing Carmen Cortez in the Spy Kids film series and Shilo Wallace in the movie Repo! the Genetic Opera. In 2009, she starred as the title character Ruby Gallagher in the ABC Family series Ruby & The... |
Elinor Collett | Verity Rushworth Verity Rushworth Verity Rushworth is an English actress who is best known for her role as Donna Windsor-Dingle in the ITV1 soap Emmerdale, having taken over the role from Sophie Jeffery in 1998.- Life and career :... |
Esther Hannaford | Diana DeGarmo Diana DeGarmo Diana Nicole DeGarmo is an American singer and Broadway actress. She finished as the runner-up on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series American Idol, narrowly missing the win by about 2% out of over 65 million votes... |
| Link Larkin | A teenage heartthrob and one of The Corny Collins Show Council Members, who falls in love with Tracy. | Matthew Morrison Matthew Morrison Matthew James "Matt" Morrison is an American actor, director, musician, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway, and most notably for his Emmy and Golden Globe nominated... |
Richard H. Blake Richard H. Blake Richard H. Blake is an American musical actor.One of his earliest stints on Broadway was taking over the role of Roger Davis in Rent. In 2001, Richard Blake took over the role of Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever, a musical adaptation of the film of the same name, having previously starred in... Andrew Rannells Andrew Rannells Andrew Scott Rannells is an American actor and singer. He performs the role of Elder Kevin Price in the 2011 Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon.-Career:... Ashley Parker Angel Aaron Tveit Aaron Tveit Aaron Kyle Tveit is an American theatre and film actor originally from Middletown, New York. He is known for originating the roles of Gabe in Next to Normal and Frank Abagnale Jr... |
Ben James-Ellis Ben James-Ellis Benjamin James Ellis is an English stage actor who starred in the role of Link Larkin in the West End production of the musical Hairspray from its opening in October 2007 until July 2009... |
Liam Tamne | Jack Chambers Jack Chambers (entertainer) Jack Chambers is a dancer, singer, actor & choreographer, from Brisbane Australia. Jack is best known as Australia's Favourite Dancer.-Early life:... |
Nick Jonas Nick Jonas Nicholas Jerry "Nick" Jonas is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actor best known as one of the Jonas Brothers, a pop-rock band he formed with his brothers Joe and Kevin. The Jonas Brothers originally started as an attempted solo singing career for Nick, but the record producer liked the... |
| Motormouth Maybelle | The owner of a downtown record shop and the host of "Negro Day" on The Corny Collins Show, self-described as "big, blonde and beautiful". | Mary Bond Davis Mary Bond Davis -Biography:Davis began her career at the age of fifteen singing with various bands. She was a member of The Young Americans from 1974 to 1976, and appeared with them on The Bing Crosby Christmas Show.... |
Darlene Love Darlene Love Darlene Love is an American popular music singer and actress. She gained prominence in the 1960s for the song "He's a Rebel," a #1 American single in 1962, and was part of the Phil Spector stable that produced a celebrated Christmas album in 1963.... Jenifer Lewis Jenifer Lewis Jenifer Jeanette Lewis is an American film and television actress and singer.-Early life:Lewis was born in Kinloch, Missouri, to a nurse's aid mother and a factory worker father. She attended college at Webster University in Webster Groves, Missouri... Charlotte Crossley |
Johnnie Fiori | Sandra Marvin Sharon D Clarke Sharon D Clarke Sharon D Clarke is a British theatre and television actress and singer known for her role in the UK medical drama Holby City and for taking lead roles in many West End Musicals including originating the role of the Killer Queen in Ben Elton and Queen's hit musical We Will Rock You at the Dominion... |
Cle Morgan | Darlene Love Darlene Love Darlene Love is an American popular music singer and actress. She gained prominence in the 1960s for the song "He's a Rebel," a #1 American single in 1962, and was part of the Phil Spector stable that produced a celebrated Christmas album in 1963.... |
| Seaweed J. Stubbs | A hip "Negro Day" dancer and the son of Motormouth Maybelle who falls in love with Penny. | Corey Reynolds Corey Reynolds Corey Reynolds is an American musical theatre, television, and film actor known for originating the role of Seaweed in the Broadway adaptation of Hairspray, and for the TNT crime show The Closer.-Early life and career:... |
Chester Gregory II Tevin Campbell Tevin Campbell Tevin Jermod Campbell is an American R&B singer-songwriter and actor. He scored a string of R&B chart hits as a teenager in the early to mid-1990s.-Music career:... |
Adrian Hansel | Tevin Campbell Tevin Campbell Tevin Jermod Campbell is an American R&B singer-songwriter and actor. He scored a string of R&B chart hits as a teenager in the early to mid-1990s.-Music career:... |
Corbin Bleu Corbin Bleu Corbin Bleu Reivers , known professionally as Corbin Bleu, is an American actor, model, dancer, producer, and singer-songwriter. He performed in the High School Musical film series, the Discovery Kids drama series Flight 29 Down, and the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In!... |
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| Wilbur Turnblad | Tracy’s goofy father, who owns the Har-De-Har Hut joke shop and is still madly in love with his wife, Edna. He encourages Tracy to follow her dreams. | Dick Latessa Dick Latessa Richard Robert "Dick" Latessa is an American actor.Latessa was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a mother who was an automotive upholstery maker. Latessa made his Broadway debut in The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N in 1968... |
Jere Burns Jere Burns Jerald Eugene "Jere" Burns II is an American actor who has appeared in theatre productions and on television and is best known for his role as ladies' man Kirk Morris on the television series, Dear John.-Early life:... Jerry Mathers Jerry Mathers Gerald Patrick "Jerry" Mathers is an American television, film, and stage actor. Mathers is best known for his role in the television sitcom series Leave It to Beaver , in which he played Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, the younger son of archetypal suburban couple June and Ward Cleaver , and the brother... Jim J. Bullock Stephen DeRosa Stephen DeRosa Stephen DeRosa is an American television and theatre actor.-Education:He attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., as an undergraduate, and graduated from the Yale School of Drama in New Haven, Connecticut, with an Master of Fine Arts in 1995.-Career:Although DeRosa's career has... |
Mel Smith Mel Smith Melvin Kenneth "Mel" Smith is an English comedian, writer, film director, producer, and actor. He is most famous for his work on the sketch comedy shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Griff Rhys Jones.- Early life :Smith's father, Kenneth, was born... |
Ian Talbot Nigel Planer Nigel Planer Nigel George Planer is an English actor, comedian, novelist and playwright.Planer is perhaps best known for his role as Neil Pye in the cult BBC comedy The Young Ones. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Wicked and Hairspray... Micky Dolenz Micky Dolenz George Michael "Micky" Dolenz, Jr. is an American actor, musician, television director, radio personality and theater director, best known as a member of the 1960s made-for-television band The Monkees.-Biography:... |
Grant Piro Grant Piro Grant Piro is an Australian actor. He is best known as the host of the children's television show Couch Potato on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.- Television credits :* Sons and Daughters * Captain Johnno telemovie... |
Drew Carey Drew Carey Drew Allison Carey is an American actor, singer, comedian, photographer, sports executive, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as... |
| Corny Collins | The eccentric Eccentricity (behavior) In popular usage, eccentricity refers to unusual or odd behavior on the part of an individual. This behavior would typically be perceived as unusual or unnecessary, without being demonstrably maladaptive... and cocky host of The Corny Collins Show. |
Clarke Thorell | Lance Bass Lance Bass James Lance Bass , best known as Lance Bass, is an American pop singer, dancer, actor, film and television producer, and author. He grew up in Mississippi and rose to fame as the bass singer for the American pop boy band 'N Sync. 'N Sync's success led Bass to work in film and television... Jonathan Dokuchitz Jonathan Dokuchitz Johnathan Dokuchitz is an American actor who works mainly on Broadway. He has starred in The Who's Tommy as Captain Walker, and also created the singing voice for John Cusack in Anastasia .- Featured productions :... |
Paul Manuel | Gavin Alex | Scott Irwin | John Stamos John Stamos John Phillip Stamos is an American actor, singer and musician best known for his work in television, especially in his starring role as Jesse Katsopolis on the ABC sitcom Full House. Since the cancellation of that show in 1995, Stamos has appeared in numerous television films and series. From 2006... |
| Little Inez | Seaweed's younger sister, who tries to audition for The Corny Collins Show but is turned away because she is black. | Danielle Eugenia Wilson | Naturi Naughton Naturi Naughton Naturi Cora Maria Naughton is an American singer, rapper and actress best known for formerly being one-third of the R&B trio 3LW, and the starring role of Denise in the remake of Fame.- Early life :... |
Natalie Best | Raquel Jones | Nancy Denis | Chyka Jackson |
| Female Authority Figure | The Matron guarding The Big Dollhouse; the Gym Teacher; and Prudy Pingleton, Penny's overprotective and often close-minded mother. | Jackie Hoffman Jackie Hoffman Jacqueline Laura Hoffman , known as Jackie Hoffman, is an American actress and stand-up comedian known for her facially-contorting expressions, and one-woman shows of Jewish-themed original songs and monologues... |
Julie Halston Julie Halston Julie Halston is an American actress and comedian.-Life and career:Halston was born Julie Abatelli in Suffolk County, New York, and raised in Commack, Long Island. She is the daughter of Julia Madeline "Dolly" , a teacher's assistant, and Rudolph "Rudy" Abatelli, who worked in tobacco sales... Susan Mosher Susan Mosher Susan Mosher is a stage and film actress. She starred as the Female Authority figure in the Vegas run of Hairspray and is best known for portraying Pepper Cole in the show Cashino. She also was in the original cast of the Broadway show SUDS... |
Wendy Somerville | Jacqui Rae | Mo Gaffney Mo Gaffney Maureen E. "Mo" Gaffney is an American actress, comedian, writer and activist.-Biography:She hosted two of her own television talk shows: Women Aloud! and The Mo Show... |
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| Male Authority Figure | Mr. Pinky, owner of Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway who gives Tracy and Edna a makeover; Principal of Patterson Park High School; and Mr. Harriman F. Spritzer, the President of Ultra Clutch | Joel Vig< |
((Blake Hammond)) Jim J. Bullock Kevin Meaney Kevin Meaney Kevin Gerard Meaney is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He has been involved in a number of television programs, having been featured on Dr. Katz, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Garfield and Friends, Rocko's Modern Life, London Underground, and Duckman, among others... |
Dermot Canavan | Garry Scale | Michael McDonald |
Musical numbers
Act I- "Good Morning Baltimore" – Tracy and Ensemble
- "The Nicest Kids in Town" – Corny and Council Members
- "Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now" – Edna, Tracy, Prudy, Penny, Velma, Amber, and Female Ensemble
- "I Can Hear the Bells" – Tracy and Ensemble
- "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs" – Velma and Council Members with Tracy, Penny, and Little Inez
- "The MadisonMadison (dance)The Madison is a novelty dance that was popular in the late 1950s to mid 1960s. The Madison was created and first danced in Columbus, Ohio, in 1957. The local popularity of the dance and record in Baltimore, Maryland, came to the attention of the producers of The Buddy Deane Show in 1960...
"† – Corny and Company - "The Nicest Kids in Town (Reprise)"† – Corny and Council Members
- "It Takes Two" – Link, Tracy, and Male Ensemble
- "Velma’s Revenge"† – Velma
- "Welcome to the 60’s" – Tracy, Edna, The Dynamites, and Ensemble
- "Run and Tell That!" – Seaweed, Little Inez, and Detention Kids
- "Big, Blonde, and Beautiful" – Motormouth, Little Inez, Tracy, Edna, Wilbur, and Company
Act II
- "The Big Dollhouse" – Matron, Edna, Velma, Tracy, Amber, Penny, Motormouth, and Female Ensemble
- "Good Morning Baltimore (Reprise)" – Tracy
- "(You’re) Timeless to Me" – Edna and Wilbur
- "(You're) Timeless to Me (Reprise)" - Edna and Wilbur
- "Without Love" – Tracy, Link, Penny, Seaweed, and Ensemble
- "I Know Where I’ve Been" – Motormouth and Ensemble
- "(It’s) Hairspray" – Corny and Council Members
- "Cooties" – Amber and Council Members
- "You Can’t Stop the Beat" – Tracy, Link, Penny, Seaweed, Edna, Wilbur, Motormouth, Velma, Amber, and Ensemble
†Not on the cast recording.
Score revisions and additional songs
Hairspray went through several revisions before and during its pre-Broadway run in Seattle, in the process eliminating and replacing several musical numbers. One of such songs, an infomercial about safety on the road titled "Blood on the Pavement", followed "The Nicest Kids in Town", and is included on the cast album. In early revisions, various songs, including "The Status Quo" and "Velma’s Cha-Cha" (its short reprise replaced by “Rage,” in turn dropped in favor of “Velma’s Revenge”), were used during Tracy’s audition and dismissal, but the team instead optioned for "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs", as the audience did not like seeing Tracy being verbally attacked after "I Can Hear the Bells". After the auditions, there was a scene in the Har-De-Har Hut in which Wilbur tried to cheer up Tracy after her rejection, singing that "It Doesn't Get Better than This". Later replaced by the similar "Positivity", the scene was later cut from the show altogether as it was deemed emotionally redundant.After Tracy eventually made it on the show, there was a song "The New Girl in Town", which was sung first by the black girls and later by the Council Girls. Although later cut early during the Seattle tryout, it was included in the 2007 movie
Hairspray (2007 film)
Hairspray is a 2007 musical film produced by Kolaja Productions and distributed by New Line Cinema. It was released in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom on July 20, 2007. The film is an adaptation of the 2002 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on John...
and appears in the show’s instrumental score. "The Mother-Daughter Cha-Cha-Cha" was another cut number that originally followed "Big, Blonde, and Beautiful". Later, the writers absorbed the protest rally and Mother-Daughter Day into the number, thus deleting the song and folding the sequence into a single scene. A song called "Step on Up" was also cut in favor of "I Know Where I’ve Been". Early on in the genesis of the show, the plot involved a "Miss Auto Show" competition, as in the 1988 film, instead of "Miss Teenage Hairspray". For this competition, later revised due to the cost of cars onstage, there was a song called "Take a Spin" sung by Corny in the place where “(It’s) Hairspray” is now. After Amber’s rendition of "Cooties", Tracy had a song before the finale called "It Ain’t Over ’Til the Fat Lady Sings," though, it was cut after the third reading of the show; it was included as a track on the Special Edition of the 2007 motion picture's soundtrack.
Critics
According to VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, Hairspray received thirteen favorable and four mixed reviews. Charles Isherwood, in his Variety Magazine review wrote: "...this sweet, infinitely spirited, bubblegum-flavored confection won't be lacking for buyers any time soon. Arriving in an aerosol fog of advance hype, it more than lives up to its promise." Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
wrote: "So what if it's more than a little pushy in its social preaching? Stocked with canny, deliriously tuneful songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and directed by Jack O'Brien with a common touch that stops short of vulgarity, 'Hairspray' is as sweet as a show can be without promoting tooth decay. ...[it] succeeds in recreating the pleasures of the old-fashioned musical comedy without seeming old-fashioned. ...Shaiman... is taking the infectious hooks and rhythms from period pop and R&B and translating them into the big, bouncy sound that Broadway demands.... And while the savvy arrangements... nod happily to Motown, Elvis, Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore is an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s.- Biography :Gore was born in New York City, New York. She was raised in...
ballads and standards like "Higher and Higher," the score's appeal isn't nostalgic. It's music that builds its own self-contained, improbably symmetrical world...." New York's Daily News wrote, "As Tracy, Marissa Jaret Winokur has the heft, the pipes and an enormously appealing stage presence. Her dancing may not be as special as the plot suggests, but she wins your heart... With this role, Fierstein places himself in the great line of Broadway divas."
Box office and business
Hairspray opened with a $12 million advance; after the Tony Awards show (in June 2003), it was expected to do five times the business it normally did on a Monday. The entire $10.5 million investment was recouped by May 2003 (approximately 9 months after its Broadway opening). For 2002-03 it averaged 99 % capacity; for 2007 it averaged 86 %.Adaptations
A film version was made and released in July 2007. The film was directed and choreographed by Adam ShankmanAdam Shankman
Adam Michael Shankman is an American film director, producer, dancer, actor, and choreographer. He has been a judge on the television program So You Think You Can Dance since Season 3. He began his professional career in musical theater, and was a dancer in music videos for Paula Abdul and Janet...
and starred John Travolta
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
as Edna Turnblad, Zac Efron
Zac Efron
Zachary David Alexander "Zac" Efron is an American actor. He began acting professionally in the early 2000s and became known with his lead roles in the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical, the WB series Summerland, and the 2007 film version of the Broadway musical Hairspray...
as Link Larkin, Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
as Velma Von Tussle, Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...
as Wilbur Turnblad, Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad, Amanda Bynes
Amanda Bynes
Amanda Laura Bynes is an American actress, comedian, singer, and fashion designer. Bynes appeared in several successful television series, such as All That and The Amanda Show, on Nickelodeon in the mid to late 1990s and early 2000s, and in 2002, she starred in the TV series, What I Like About You...
as Penny Pingleton, James Marsden
James Marsden
James Paul Marsden is an American actor, singer and former Versace model. He is known for playing the superhero Cyclops in the first three X-Men films and for his roles in other commercially successful films such as Hop, Superman Returns, Hairspray, Enchanted, The Box, and 27 Dresses.-Early life...
as Corny Collins, Brittany Snow as Amanda Von Tussle, and Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
as "Motormouth" Maybelle.
Original Broadway production
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Drama Desk Award Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category... |
Outstanding Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since. Before the 21st Drama Desk Awards, acting awards were given without making distinctions between roles in straight dramas as opposed to musicals, nor were there... |
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| Outstanding Book of a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee which comprises New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
Mark O'Donnell Mark O'Donnell Mark O’Donnell is an American writer and humorist. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College in 1976. He was a member of the Harvard Lampoon, where he held the position of Ibis... and Thomas Meehan Thomas Meehan (writer) Thomas Meehan is an American writer, best known for Annie, The Producers and Hairspray.-Life and career:Meehan grew up in Suffern, New York, and graduated from Hamilton College... |
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| Outstanding Orchestrations Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
Harold Wheeler Harold Wheeler Harold Wheeler is an orchestrator, composer, conductor, arranger, record producer, and music director. He has received numerous Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for orchestration, and won the 2003 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations for Hairspray.-Biography:Wheeler was named... |
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| Outstanding Actor in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... |
Harvey Fierstein Harvey Fierstein Harvey Forbes Fierstein is a U.S. actor and playwright, noted for the early distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and originating the lead role in his long-running play Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family, as well as writing the... |
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| Outstanding Actress in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... |
Marissa Jaret Winokur Marissa Jaret Winokur Marissa Jaret Winokur , sometimes credited as Marissa Winokur, is an American actress known for her performance as Tracy Turnblad in the highly successful Broadway musical adaptation of John Waters' film Hairspray, as well as her work on the Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked... |
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| Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... |
Dick Latessa Dick Latessa Richard Robert "Dick" Latessa is an American actor.Latessa was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a mother who was an automotive upholstery maker. Latessa made his Broadway debut in The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N in 1968... |
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| Corey Reynolds Corey Reynolds Corey Reynolds is an American musical theatre, television, and film actor known for originating the role of Seaweed in the Broadway adaptation of Hairspray, and for the TNT crime show The Closer.-Early life and career:... |
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| Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical was first awarded in the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has subsequently been awarded every year. In the 1993-1994 Drama Desk Awards the award was given under the name of Outstanding Supporting Actress - Musical... |
Kerry Butler Kerry Butler Kerry Marie Butler is an American actress known primarily for her work in theatre.-Early life and career:... |
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| Outstanding Lyrics Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics is an annual award presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
Scott Wittman Scott Wittman Scott Wittman is an American director, lyricist, and writer for Broadway, concerts, and television.Wittman was raised in Nanuet, New York graduated high Nanuet Senior High School in 1972 and attended Emerson College in Boston for two years before leaving to pursue a career in musical theatre in... and Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman is an American composer, lyricist, arranger, and performer for films, television, and theatre. He is perhaps best known for writing the music and co-writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the cult John Waters film Hairspray, for which Shaiman won Tony and Grammy... |
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| Outstanding Music Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music is an annual award presented by the Drama Desk, a committee comprising New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman is an American composer, lyricist, arranger, and performer for films, television, and theatre. He is perhaps best known for writing the music and co-writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the cult John Waters film Hairspray, for which Shaiman won Tony and Grammy... |
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| Outstanding Director Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director This is a list of winners of the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director introduced in 1955 to honour directors of plays and directors of musicals. From 1968, multiple awards were presented for each season... |
Jack O'Brien Jack O'Brien Jack O'Brien may refer to:*Jack O'Brien *Jack O'Brien , American baseball player*Philadelphia Jack O'Brien , American Boxer, former light heavyweight boxing champion of the world... |
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| Outstanding Choreography Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography -1970s:* 1970: Ron Field – Applause** No nominees* 1971: Michael Bennett – Follies and Donald Saddler – No, No, Nanette** No nominees* 1972: Patricia Birch – Grease and Jean Erdman – Two Gentlemen of Verona... |
Jerry Mitchell Jerry Mitchell Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer.-Early life and education:Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. He graduated from the Fine Arts college at Webster University in St. Louis. ... |
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| Outstanding Set Design Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee composed of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
David Rockwell David Rockwell David Rockwell is an American architect and designer, who is the founder and CEO of Rockwell Group, based in New York with satellite offices in Madrid and Dubai. Rockwell has long been fascinated with immersive environments.-Early life and education:... |
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| Outstanding Costume Design Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
William Ivey Long William Ivey Long William Ivey Long is an American costume designer for stage and film. His most notable work includes The Producers, Hairspray, Nine, Crazy for You, Grey Gardens and Young Frankenstein.-Early life and education:... |
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| Theatre World Award Theatre World Award The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:... |
Jackie Hoffman Jackie Hoffman Jacqueline Laura Hoffman , known as Jackie Hoffman, is an American actress and stand-up comedian known for her facially-contorting expressions, and one-woman shows of Jewish-themed original songs and monologues... |
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| Marissa Jaret Winokur Marissa Jaret Winokur Marissa Jaret Winokur , sometimes credited as Marissa Winokur, is an American actress known for her performance as Tracy Turnblad in the highly successful Broadway musical adaptation of John Waters' film Hairspray, as well as her work on the Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked... |
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| Tony Award Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway... |
Best Musical Tony Award for Best Musical This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack... |
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| Best Book of a Musical Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligible... |
Mark O'Donnell Mark O'Donnell Mark O’Donnell is an American writer and humorist. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College in 1976. He was a member of the Harvard Lampoon, where he held the position of Ibis... and Thomas Meehan Thomas Meehan (writer) Thomas Meehan is an American writer, best known for Annie, The Producers and Hairspray.-Life and career:Meehan grew up in Suffern, New York, and graduated from Hamilton College... |
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| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical is awarded to the actor who was voted as the best actor in a musical play, whether a new production or a revival... |
Harvey Fierstein Harvey Fierstein Harvey Forbes Fierstein is a U.S. actor and playwright, noted for the early distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and originating the lead role in his long-running play Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family, as well as writing the... |
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| Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical | Marissa Jaret Winokur Marissa Jaret Winokur Marissa Jaret Winokur , sometimes credited as Marissa Winokur, is an American actress known for her performance as Tracy Turnblad in the highly successful Broadway musical adaptation of John Waters' film Hairspray, as well as her work on the Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked... |
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| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical This is a list of the winners and nominations of Tony Award for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. The award has been presented since 1947... |
Dick Latessa Dick Latessa Richard Robert "Dick" Latessa is an American actor.Latessa was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a mother who was an automotive upholstery maker. Latessa made his Broadway debut in The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N in 1968... |
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| Corey Reynolds Corey Reynolds Corey Reynolds is an American musical theatre, television, and film actor known for originating the role of Seaweed in the Broadway adaptation of Hairspray, and for the TNT crime show The Closer.-Early life and career:... |
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| Best Direction of a Musical Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Prior to 1960, category for direction included plays and musicals.-1950s:Note: this category was for both dramatic and musical productions... |
Jack O'Brien Jack O'Brien Jack O'Brien may refer to:*Jack O'Brien *Jack O'Brien , American baseball player*Philadelphia Jack O'Brien , American Boxer, former light heavyweight boxing champion of the world... |
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| Best Choreography Tony Award for Best Choreography -1940s:* 1947: Agnes de Mille – Brigadoon / Michael Kidd – Finian's Rainbow* 1948: Jerome Robbins – High Button Shoes* 1949: Gower Champion – Lend An Ear-1950s:* 1950: Helen Tamiris – Touch and Go* 1951: Michael Kidd – Guys and Dolls... |
Jerry Mitchell Jerry Mitchell Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer.-Early life and education:Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. He graduated from the Fine Arts college at Webster University in St. Louis. ... |
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| Best Original Score Tony Award for Best Original Score The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical in that year. The score consists of music and lyrics... |
Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman is an American composer, lyricist, arranger, and performer for films, television, and theatre. He is perhaps best known for writing the music and co-writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the cult John Waters film Hairspray, for which Shaiman won Tony and Grammy... and Scott Wittman Scott Wittman Scott Wittman is an American director, lyricist, and writer for Broadway, concerts, and television.Wittman was raised in Nanuet, New York graduated high Nanuet Senior High School in 1972 and attended Emerson College in Boston for two years before leaving to pursue a career in musical theatre in... |
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| Best Orchestrations Tony Award for Best Orchestrations -1990s:1997*Jonathan Tunick – Titanic**Michael Gibson - Steel Pier**Luther Henderson - Play On!**Don Sebesky and Harold Wheeler - The Life1998*William David Brohn – Ragtime**Robert Elhai, David Metzger and Bruce Fowler - The Lion King... |
Harold Wheeler Harold Wheeler Harold Wheeler is an orchestrator, composer, conductor, arranger, record producer, and music director. He has received numerous Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for orchestration, and won the 2003 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations for Hairspray.-Biography:Wheeler was named... |
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| Best Scenic Design | David Rockwell David Rockwell David Rockwell is an American architect and designer, who is the founder and CEO of Rockwell Group, based in New York with satellite offices in Madrid and Dubai. Rockwell has long been fascinated with immersive environments.-Early life and education:... |
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| Best Costume Design Tony Award for Best Costume Design These are the winners and nominees for the Tony Award for Best Costume Design. The award was first presented in 1947 and included both plays and musicals... |
William Ivey Long William Ivey Long William Ivey Long is an American costume designer for stage and film. His most notable work includes The Producers, Hairspray, Nine, Crazy for You, Grey Gardens and Young Frankenstein.-Early life and education:... |
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| Best Lighting Design Tony Award for Best Lighting Design This is a list of the winners of the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design in a play or musical, first presented in 1970. In 2005 the category was divided with each genre represented separately.-1970s:* 1970: Jo Mielziner – Child's Play... |
Kenneth Posner Kenneth Posner Kenneth Posner is an American theatrical lighting designer, working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in American regional theatre. His most notable designs include the musicals Wicked and Hairspray, two highly regarded musicals of the early 21st century... |
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Original London production
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Critics' Circle Theatre Award | Best Musical | ||
| Most Promising Newcomer | Leanne Jones Leanne Jones Leanne Jones is a British actress. She was born in Stoke on Trent and grew up in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, where she attended St Ivo School, before studying at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in Wood Green, in north London, graduating in 2006... |
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| Evening Standard Award | Best New Musical | |||
| Laurence Olivier Award | Best New Musical | |||
| Best Actor in a Musical | Michael Ball Michael Ball (singer) Michael Ashley Ball, born 27 June 1962) is a British actor, singer, and radio and TV presenter who is best known for the song "Love Changes Everything" and musical theatre roles such as Marius in Les Misérables, Alex in Aspects of Love, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Edna Turnblad... |
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| Best Actress in a Musical | Leanne Jones Leanne Jones Leanne Jones is a British actress. She was born in Stoke on Trent and grew up in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, where she attended St Ivo School, before studying at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in Wood Green, in north London, graduating in 2006... |
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| Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical | Tracie Bennett Tracie Bennett Tracie Bennett is an English stage and television actress. She trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in Clapham, London... |
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| Elinor Collett | ||||
| Best Director | Jack O'Brien Jack O'Brien Jack O'Brien may refer to:*Jack O'Brien *Jack O'Brien , American baseball player*Philadelphia Jack O'Brien , American Boxer, former light heavyweight boxing champion of the world... |
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| Best Theatre Choreographer | Jerry Mitchell Jerry Mitchell Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer.-Early life and education:Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. He graduated from the Fine Arts college at Webster University in St. Louis. ... |
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| Best Set Design | David Rockwell David Rockwell David Rockwell is an American architect and designer, who is the founder and CEO of Rockwell Group, based in New York with satellite offices in Madrid and Dubai. Rockwell has long been fascinated with immersive environments.-Early life and education:... |
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| Best Costume Design | William Ivey Long William Ivey Long William Ivey Long is an American costume designer for stage and film. His most notable work includes The Producers, Hairspray, Nine, Crazy for You, Grey Gardens and Young Frankenstein.-Early life and education:... |
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| Best Lighting Design | Kenneth Posner Kenneth Posner Kenneth Posner is an American theatrical lighting designer, working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in American regional theatre. His most notable designs include the musicals Wicked and Hairspray, two highly regarded musicals of the early 21st century... |
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| Best Sound Design | Steve C. Kennedy | |||