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MARK O’DONNELL
MARK O’DONNELL (Book). Plays: That’s It, Folks! ; Fables for Friends ; The Nice and the Nasty (all produced at Playwrights Horizons), and Strangers on Earth and Vertigo Park (both produced by Zena Group Theatre). He wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Tots in Tinseltown . Mr. O’Donnell collaborated with Bill Irwin on an adaptation of Moliere’s Scapin, and he co- authored a translation of Feydeau’s A Flea in Her Ear , both for the Roundabout. For Manhattan Theatre Club, he translated Jean Claude Carriere’s La Terrasse . He has published two collections of comic stories Elementary Education and Vertigo Park and Other Tall Tales (both Knopf), as well as two recent novels, Getting Over Homer and Let Nothing You Dismay (both now in Vintage paperback). His humor, cartoons, and poetry have appeared in The New Yorker , The New York Times , The Atlantic , Spy , The New Republic , and Esquire , among many others. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lecomte du Nuoy Prize, and the George S. Kaufman Award.
THOMAS MEEHAN
Thomas won the 2003 Tony Award for co-writing the book for Hairspray, after having won the 2001 Tony Award for co- writing the book of The Producers . In 1977, he received his first Tony Award for writing the book of Annie , which was his first Broadway show, and he has since written the books for the musicals I Remember Mama, Ain’t Broadway Grand, Annie Warbucks, Bombay Dreams, and Cry- Baby . In addition, he is a long-time contributor of humor pieces, including “Yma Dream” to The New Yorker , an Emmy Award-winning writer of television comedy, and a collaborator on a number of screenplays, including Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs , To Be or Not to Be, and the film version of The Producers . He is also the co-author for the libretto of 1984 , an opera composed by Lorin Maazel and based on George Orwell’s classic novel of the same name, which had its world premiere in the spring of 2003 at London’s Royal Opera House and was performed at La Scala in Milan. Mr. Meehan is a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild.
MARC SHAIMAN
Music & arrangements, lyrics.
Marc is a composer/lyricist/arranger/performer working in films, television, musical theater and recordings. He has won several honors, including a Tony, an Emmy, a Grammy, plus seven Oscar nominations.
Opening this fall on Broadway is Shaiman & Wittman’s new musical Some Like It Hot , based on the iconic film. And coming in a year or so after that will be Smash , a play about a musical (based on the TV Show).
Recent projects include Rogers: The Musical for Marvel/Disney+’s Hawkeye , incidental music for the smash Broadway revival of Plaza Suite and the score for Universal’s Billy Eichner romcom Bros .
For Mary Poppins Returns he was nominated for two Oscars, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and a Grammy. His other Oscar nominations have been for Sleepless In Seattle , Patch Adams , The First Wives Club , The American President and South Park-Bigger, Longer & Uncut .
Other film credits include Beaches , When Harry Met Sally , City Slickers , The Addams Family , Sister Act , A Few Good Men , Hocus Pocus , The Bucket List and Hairspray . He and Mariah Carey were nominated for a Golden Globe for their title song for the animated film The Star .
For Broadway, he and co-lyricist Scott Wittman have written Hairspray (Tony & Grammy Awards), Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me , Catch Me If You Can (Tony nom) and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory .
Television credits include Saturday Night Live (Emmy and Golden Globe nom), Smash (Emmy & Golden Globe nom), The Oscars with Billy Crystal (Emmy Award), Bette Midler (final guest with Johnny Carson) and countless appearances with Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Lane, Jennifer Hudson, Jack Black & Will Ferrell, among others.
He has produced/arranged recordings and performances for Bette Midler, Harry Connick Jr., Peter Allen, Eric Clapton, Diane Keaton, Patti LuPone, Steve Martin, Barbra Streisand, Robin Williams and many more.
His online opus Prop 8 – The Musical was a Webbie Award winner.
SCOTT WITTMAN
Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award winning lyricist, director, writer, and conceiver Scott Wittman co-wrote the lyrics for the hit musical Hairspray (Tony, Grammy, Olivier Award) with creative partner Marc Shaiman. Wittman served as an executive producer on the hit film starring John Travolta. Nominated for a Golden Globe, Grammy, and two Emmy Awards for the original songs on NBC’s musical drama Smash . Shaiman and Wittman’s original score for the Marilyn Monroe musical Bombshell was released by Sony Records. Scott and Marc’s Broadway writing credits include Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me , which Scott also directed, Catch Me If You Can (Tony nom. for Best Musical), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Broadway and the West End. And the new Broadway musical of Some Like it Hot at the Schubert Theatre. Scott has created and directed concerts for Patti LuPone. He has created solo shows for Christine Ebersole and Nathan Lane, as well as writing for Bette Midler’s 2015 Divine Intervention World Tour. Off-Broadway, he conceived and directed Jukebox Jackie starring Justin Vivian Bond at La Mama, and Bridget Everett’s Rockbottom at the Public Theatre. His notorious and legendary Downtown shows are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Marc and Scott also wrote the score to Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Meryl Streep. The song “The Place Where Lost Things Go” was nominated for an Oscar.
JACK O’BRIEN
Original director.
JACK O’BRIEN, recently Tony nominated for his direction of the new hit musical, Shucked , has also won three Tony Awards for his direction of Hairspray , Henry IV , and The Coast of Utopia . His other recent Broadway credits include Arthur Miller’s All My Sons , Carousel , The Front Page , Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , It’s Only a Play , Macbeth , The Nance , Dead Accounts , Catch Me If You Can , Impressionism , Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nom.), Imaginary Friends , The Invention of Love (Tony nomination and Drama Desk winner), The Full Monty (Tony nom.), More to Love , Getting Away with Murder , The Little Foxes , Damn Yankees , Two Shakespearean Actors (Tony nom.) and Porgy and Bess (Tony nom.). Off- Broadway credits include Tom Stoppard’s The Hard Problem , Pride’s Crossing , and Hapgood (Lucille Lortel Award). Other productions include Il Trittico at the Metropolitan Opera, Guys and Dolls at Carnegie Hall, Much Ado About Nothing for The Public’s Shakespeare in the Park, Love Never Dies and Hairspray (Olivier nom.) in London, which also saw another revival at the Coliseum in London. Mr. O’Brien was the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre from 1981 till 2007. He has directed six programs for PBS’s American Playhouse. He is the author of two memoirs, Jack Be Nimble, and Jack in the Box, or How to Goddam Direct, both published by FSG. He lives in Connecticut with an exceptional Norwich terrier named Coda.
JERRY MITCHELL
Original choreographer.
For the past four decades, Jerry has created some of the most iconic musicals to play Broadway, the West End, Toronto, Australia, Korea, Japan and Germany, including the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Kinky Boots , for which his direction was nominated and his choreography was awarded the Tony. This was his second Tony for choreography, having won previously for La Cage Aux Folles. With over 50 productions on stages throughout the world to his credit, Jerry has also received the George Abbott Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, joining many of his mentors as recipient. Starting as a dancer for Agnes de Mille on Broadway in Brigadoon , Jerry thereafter appeared in Woman Of The Year, Barnum, On Your Toes and A Chorus Line and became the associate to Michael Bennett, Bob Avian and Jerome Robbins on such of their shows as Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, Scandal, Chess and Jerry’s first show on the West End, Follies. Also on the West End, Jerry has been nominated four times for Best Choreography, with three of those productions winning the Olivier Award for Best Musical— Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde and Hairspray , the latter of which he choreographed with his longtime mentor and collaborator, Director Jack O’Brien. His Broadway debut as Choreographer of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown was followed by The Full Monty (Tony nomination), The Rocky Horror Show, Hairspray (Tony nomination and the NBC live television broadcast which followed), Gypsy (starring Bernadette Peters), Never Gonna Dance (Tony nomination), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nomination), La Cage Aux Folles (Tony Award), Imaginary Friends, Legally Blonde (Tony nomination), Catch Me If You Can . He also directed the Gloria Estefan musical, On Your Feet and directed and choreographed both Kinky Boots and most recently, Pretty Woman . Choreography for Off-Broadway includes Hedwig & The Angry Inch and Jeffrey. For film, Jerry created memorable dance sequences for Scent Of A Woman, The Object Of My Affection, In And Out and Drop Dead Gorgeous , among others. Currently Jerry is developing a new musical based on a book entitled Becoming Nancy . And most importantly, more than 30 years ago Jerry conceived and created Broadway Bares , a comedy burlesque show performed annually for the charity, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, which has raised over $25,000,000 to date and led to satellite organizations with similar achievements, including San Francisco Bares, West End Bares and Italy Bares , helping to care for those afflicted with and affected by AIDS, for which he was awarded the Isabelle Stevenson Award and his third Tony in 2023. He continues to serve as Executive Producer of Broadway Bares and is especially proud of the celebration of life that these shows have given to the world.
Tour Director
MATT LENZ ( Tour Director ). Broadway: Hairspray, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Catch Me If You Can, The Velocity of Autumn (Associate Director on original productions), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Resident Director). Off-Broadway: Pageant: The Musical (Drama Desk nom.), The Irish Curse , Idaho! The Comedy Musical , The Great Daisy Theory, Fingers and Toes , and Alan Ball’s Tense Guy . National Tours: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , The Sound of Music , A Christmas Story: The Musical, Cheers: Live on Stage, Catch Me If You Can , The Who’s Tommy, and numerous Hairspray companies. International: The Sound of Music Global Tour (current), Charlie in Australia and productions of Hairspray in Australia, South Africa, the UK, Toronto, and Germany. Regional: Numerous plays and musicals at The Ahmanson, Paper Mill Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, the MUNY, Ogunquit Playhouse, La Mirada, Cape Playhouse, North Carolina Theatre, Maltz Jupiter Theater, Forestburgh Playhouse, Zach Theatre, Gulfshore Playhouse, Casa Manana. Matt is the Founding Artistic Director of the annual In The Works ~ In The Woods Festival of new plays and musicals.
ROBBIE ROBY
Tour choreographer.
Robbie has been part of the Hairspray family for 18 years, originally as the dance captain for the Broadway and Las Vegas productions. Select choreography credits include: Joseph… Dreamcoat (staring David Archuleta), Sister Act (Kansas City Starlight, Pittsburgh CLO), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Tuacahn, Ordway Theatre, and Pittsburgh CLO), Little Shop of Horrors (Sacramento Music Circus), Disney’s The Little Mermaid (The 5th Avenue Theatre), Shrek (Walnut Street Theatre, Sacramento Music Circus), and Broadway Backwards (New Amsterdam Theatre; NYC). As a performer, Robbie was the dance captain for Broadway/Touring productions of Billy Elliot, Disney’s The Little Mermaid , and Monty Python’s Spamalot.
DAVID ROCKWELL
Scenic designer.
Broadway: Into the Woods ; Take Me Out ; Tootsie ; Kiss Me, Kate ; Lobby Hero ; She Loves Me (Tony, Drama Desk, and OCC awards); On the Twentieth Century (Tony nom.); You Can’t Take It With You (Tony nom.); Kinky Boots (Tony nom.); Lucky Guy (Tony nom.); Hairspray (Tony, Drama Desk, OCC noms.); and the upcoming production of A Beautiful Noise . Off-Broadway: Into the Woods ; Seven Deadly Sins ; Soundtrack of America ; A Bright Room Called Day ; and Shakespeare in the Park . Founder and President of Rockwell Group, an architecture and design firm based in New York with offices in Los Angeles and Madrid. He is the author of four books on architecture and design, including Drama (Phaidon 2021). Honors: AIANY President’s Award, Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, Presidential Design Award
WILLIAM IVEY LONG
Costume designer.
Credits: The Producers, Seussical, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Music Man, Contact; Swing!, Epic Proportions, The Civil War, Annie Get Your Gun, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Cabaret, Chicago (New York, London, Melbourne, Vienna, Stockholm, Amsterdam), Steel Pier, 1776, Smokey Joe’s Cafe (New York, London, Las Vegas, tours), Crazy For You (Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Dora awards), London, Toronto (Dora Award), Tokyo; Guys and Dolls (Drama Desk Award); Madison Square Garden’s annual A Christmas Carol; Six Degrees of Separation; Assassins (1991 Obie Award for outstanding achievement); Lend Me a Tenor (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle awards); Nine (Tony, Drama Desk, Maharam awards); Robert Wilson’s Hamletmachine ; Leonard Bernstein’s A Quiet Place and Trouble in Tahiti (Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Houston Grand Opera, Kennedy Center); The Lost Colony ; Mick Jagger for the Rolling Stones’ Steel Wheels tour; Siegfried and Roy at the Mirage Hotel; Paul Taylor; Twyla Tharp; Peter Martins; David Parsons; Susan Stroman.
PAUL MILLER
Tour lighting designer.
Broadway: Ruben & Clay’s Christmas Show, Amazing Grace, The Illusionists, Legally Blonde, Freshly Squeezed, Laughing Room Only . National Tours: The Illusionists, Elf the Musical, The Producers, Hairspray, Nunsense . Many commercial Off-Broadway productions and City Center Encores! Regional: The Old Globe, Stratford Shakespeare Festival (Ontario), DC Shakespeare, Chicago Shakespeare, Idaho Shakespeare, Great Lakes Theatre Co, Asolo Rep, American Conservatory Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, The Goodspeed Opera House, Pittsburgh CLO, and Seattle’s 5 th Avenue Theatre, among others. Ballet: The New Jersey Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet. Television: Live from Lincoln Center, Netflix, Showtime, Comedy Central. International: Productions in São Paulo, Toronto, London, Vienna, Milan (Teatro alla Scala), Manila, Johannesburg, Beijing, Slovenia, Canada, and Mexico. Paul has been the Lighting Director for the internationally televised New Year’s Eve Celebration from New York’s Times Square for the last 20 years. He is originally from Chicago and trained at The Theatre School at DePaul University.
KENNETH POSNER
Lighting designer.
Kenneth designs extensively Off-Broadway, for resident theatres and touring productions throughout the United States, as well as internationally. He began his design career in the early 1990s s the lighting designer for the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA. Selected Broadway credits include One More Time , Saturday Night, Beetlejuice, Pretty Woman, Mean Girls, War Paint, Tuck Everlasting, Disgraced, On Your Feet, If/Then, Kinky Boots, Pippin, Cinderella, Hairspray, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Legally Blonde, Catch Me If You Can, The Coast of Utopia: Shipwreck , Other Desert Cities, The Merchant Of Venice, The Little Foxes, The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, Finding Neverland, and Wicked.
SHANNON SLATON
Sound designer.
SHANNON SLATON ( Sound Designer ) Broadway designs: My Window; The Illusionists . National tour designs include: Shrek; Once on this Island; The Producers; Kiss Me, Kate; Noise/Funk; The Full Monty; Contact; A Chorus Line; Tap Dogs; Sweeney Todd; The Wizard of Oz; The Drowsy Chaperone; and The Wedding Singer . He was production sound for The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and national tour, and advance sound for Wicked . Shows he has mixed on Broadway include Springsteen on Broadway, Man of La Mancha, Bombay Dreams, A Christmas Carol, Sweet Charity, Jersey Boys, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Drowsy Chaperone, Spring Awakening, Fela!, Anything Goes, Annie, Legally Blonde, and Cabaret .
PATRICK W. LORD
Video designer.
Patrick is a projection and video designer, whose work has been seen across the county. He has designed the National Tours of Hairspray and the new tour of On Your Feet , and was on the video team for the first tour of Mean Girls as the animator. In addition, he has had the privilege to design critically acclaimed world premieres at theaters like Lincoln Center and The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts with playwrights like Lauren Gunderson, Finegan Kruckemeyer, Robert Schenkkan and others. His career also includes extensive work at regional theaters across the country like Shakespeare Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Flatrock Playhouse, Croswell Opera House, Skylight Music Theatre and many more, especially in the Washington DC area, which he calls home. Outside of his theatre work, Patrick has designed for Grammy award winning musicians and creative directed projects for numerous NBA and NHL teams’ special events. www.patrickwlord.com
PAUL HUNTLEY
Wigs & hair designer.
London born Paul Huntley is a special Tony Award Winner as well as a Drama Desk recipient. Paul has worked on hundreds of Broadway projects since arriving in this country in 1972. His projects have included Cats; Amadeus; Kiss Me, Kate; The Producers and Hairspray . He has also worked with some of the most talented leading ladies of the American Cinema. They include Bette Davis, Vivien Leigh, Mae West, Glenn Close, Angela Lansbury and Jessica Lange. Movies are Christopher Plummer in “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” and Willem Dafoe in “Cirque Du Freak.”
BERNIE ARDIA
Tour wigs & hair designer.
Bernie is a California native with a 40-year career starting in print and television: soap operas and TV specials such as Happy Birthday Hollywood . Mr. Ardia returned to live theater with David Merrick’s national tour of 42 nd Street . He has designed for over 75 productions including: Can-Can, Me and My Girl, Showboat, Ziegfeld: A Night at the Follies ; recreating Paul Huntley’s designs for the current NETworks production of Hairspray . He is very happy to be part of this project and working under the direction of Matt Lenz. Other credits: Ragtime (The Kennedy Center), Dirty Dancing, Cameron Mackintosh’s Les Misérable s and Oliver, Kiss of the Spider Woman with Chita Rivera, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express (Las Vegas) and Cinderella with Eartha Kitt. Mr. Ardia is proud to have worked with many talented performers and directors in his career including Jeanne Cooper, George Wendt, Hal Prince, Melody Thomas Scott, Mary Wilson, Patrick Cassidy, many Osmonds, Lynda Carter, Makenzie Philips and even Judge Judy! He is also the author of Barbra Streisand in New York City , and presenting the upcoming At Sea with Patrick Dennis, My Madcap Mexican Adventure with the Author of Auntie Mame , (pub. Ratteling Good Yarns).
HAROLD WHEELER
Orchestrations.
From the time he conducted the B’way musical Promises, Promises to the year Dreamgirls won six Tony Awards, Harold Wheeler has been in the front ranks of entertainment as a conductor, composer, arranger and performer. Additional theatre credits as orchestrator and music supervisor include CoCo, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Wiz, Little Me (Tony nom.), A Chorus Line, The Tap Dance Kid, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, Fame, The Life (Tony nom.), Side Show, Swing! (Tony nom.), The Full Monty . He acted as Musical Director for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and composed the score for the film Love! Valour! Compassion! He is married to actress/singer Hattie Winston.
KEITH THOMPSON
Music supervisor.
Keith was creator/director/producer of The Cocktail Cabaret which enjoyed a 13-month run the famed Cleopatra’s Barge in Caesars Palace. He is the founder and host of The Composers Showcase, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides a platform and forum for composers and songwriters to share their original musical creations at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
As a seasoned conductor/musical director, Keith’s most recent list of professional credits include musical director and conductor for the Las Vegas companies of Jersey Boys , The Producers , Hairspray , and for the North American premier of the hit musical, We Will Rock You . The conductor and musical director for the first national tours of Mamma Mia! and Cabaret , Keith also supervised the music for the Australian production of Cabaret in Sydney and won the 2000 Dora Award as musical director of Cabaret in Toronto. Other national tours Keith has conducted include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , with Donny Osmond; Peter Pan, with Cathy Rigby; Jesus Christ Superstar , with Carl Anderson and Ted Neeley; and the 25 th Anniversary tour of the musical, HAIR! as well as concert tours for Sarah Brightman and Jenifer Lewis. In addition, his New York credits include Les Miserables , When Pigs Fly , and Little Shop of Horrors .
Keith Thompson is co-composer of IDAHO! The Comedy-Musical with long-time collaborator, Buddy Sheffield ( In Living Color ). The musical premiered at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2008 where it received the honor of “Best in Fest.” IDAHO! was presented in a full production at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas in 2016.
Another Keith Thompson original, God Lives in Glass , Keith’s premiered at NYU’s Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwich Village and has been presented regionally and in concert nationwide. Keith’s original comedy/novelty song revue, Kooky Tunes , has received international critical and popular praise. This revue completed a successful extended engagement at New York’s Laurie Beechman Theater, followed by an Australian tour, and the release of the cast recording, produced by Jay Records of London, currently available on Amazon.com..
Keith was vocal director and arranger for RoundHouse , a Television series that aired on the Nickelodeon Network. Keith was also Adjunct Professor in the Musical Theater program at NYU where he conducted, arranged and supervised music for dozens of shows.
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New Casting and Cities Announced for Hairspray Tour
The tour plans to hit 45 cities in the coming year.
Zachary Stewart
August 25, 2023
Producers of the North American tour of Hairspray , which is now in its third year, have announced new casting and a long list of tour stops for the upcoming 2023-24 season.
The tour will visit 45 cities including engagements in Calgary, Alberta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cleveland; Dallas; Denver; Edmonton, Alberta; Houston; Nashville, Tennessee; Ottawa, Ontario; and Vancouver, British Columbia. The next stop is Ft. Myers, Florida (September 22-October 28). You can see a complete list of cities here .
The cast will be led by Greg Kalafatas as Edna Turnblad, Caroline Eiseman as Tracy Turnblad and Deidre Lang as Motormouth Maybelle. Joining them are Josiah Rogers as Seaweed J. Stubbs, Skyler Shields as Link Larkin, Ralph Prentice Daniel as Wilbur Turnblad, Andrew Scoggin as Corny Collins, Caroline Portner as Amber Von Tussle, Sarah Hayes as Velma Von Tussle, Scarlett Jacques as Penny Pingleton, and Kaila Symone Crowder as Little Inez. Micah Sauvageau is Male Authority Figure, and Emmanuelle Zeesman is Female Authority Figure.
The ensemble consists of Abigail Bensman, Connor Buonaccorsi, Ashia Collins, Joshua James Crawford, Scoob Decker, Craig First, Audrey Taylor Floyd, Gavin Guthrie, Alyssa Jacqueline, Leiah Lewis, Christy Oberndorf, Kynnedi Moryaé Porter, Caroline Purdy, Kalab Quinn, Josiah Thomas Randolph, Amy Rodriguez, Sage, Scott Silagy, Cara Torchia, Lilliannie Arie Urgent, and James Douglas Vinson.
Hairspray is based on the New Line Cinema film written and directed by John Waters, who served as a creative consultant on the musical comedy. It features a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan. Hairspray features an original score by Academy Award-nominated Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.
This touring production is helmed by original director Jack O’Brien and original choreographer Jerry Mitchell. The tour director is Matt Lenz, with tour choreographer Robbie Roby. The creative team features set designer David Rockwell, lighting designer Kenneth Posner, tour lighting designer Paul Miller, costume designer William Ivey Long, and sound designer Shannon Slaton. Hair and wig design is by Paul Huntley, Richard Mawbey, and Bernie Ardia. Keith Thompson is the music supervisor.
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Watch a Trailer for the Phantom of the Opera North American Tour
The tour will launch in November, 2025.
Photos: Get a First Look at New Images of HAIRSPRAY on Tour
The tour will visit 45 cities in the 2023-24 touring season.
HAIRSPRAY, Broadway’s Tony Award®-winning musical comedy phenomenon, kicked off its third touring season last night in Ottawa, Ontario at the National Arts Centre through Sunday, November 19. This new Non-Equity, North American tour, helmed by original director Jack O’Brien and original choreographer Jerry Mitchell, will visit 45 cities in the 2023-24 touring season including premiere engagements in Calgary, AB; Charlotte, NC; Cleveland, OH; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Edmonton, ALB; Houston, TX; Nashville, TN; Vancouver, BC and many more. The season will also feature return engagements in Boston, MA; San Antonio, TX; and St. Louis, MO, among others.
LATEST NEWS
See new photos below! In the first two seasons of touring, HAIRSPRAY played in 118 cities, reaching 44 states and the District of Columbia. More than 886,000 audience members have experienced the “must-see production” (Spectrum News 1 Milwaukee) that is “as buoyant as its bouffants” (Boston Globe), full of “humor, heart and unstoppable energy” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) and quite simply, “Marvelous - and nearly miraculous” (Omaha World-Herald). The cast is led by Greg Kalafatas as Edna Turnblad, Caroline Eiseman as Tracy Turnblad and Deidre Lang as Motormouth Maybelle. Joining them are Josiah Rogers as Seaweed J. Stubbs, Skyler Shields as Link Larkin, Ralph Prentice Daniel as Wilbur Turnblad, Andrew Scoggin as Corny Collins, Caroline Portner as Amber Von Tussle, Sarah Hayes as Velma Von Tussle, Scarlett Jacques as Penny Pingleton and Kaila Symone Crowder as Little Inez. Micah Sauvageau is Male Authority Figure, and Emmanuelle Zeesman is Female Authority Figure. The ensemble consists of Abigail Bensman, Connor Buonaccorsi, Ashia Collins, Joshua James Crawford, Scoob Decker, Craig First, Audrey Taylor Floyd, Gavin Guthrie, Alyssa Jacqueline, Leiah Lewis, Christy Oberndorf, Kynnedi Moryaé Porter, Caroline Purdy, Kalab Quinn, Josiah Thomas Randolph, Amy Rodriguez, Scott Silagy, Cara Torchia, Lilliannie Arie Urgent, James Douglas Vinson and Gabriel Yarborough. “It’s a brand-new world we find ourselves in today, and HAIRSPRAY is even more relevant than twenty years ago when it first burst onto the scene. With a whole new generation of wildly talented kids across the board, we cannot wait to raise the various roofs once more with dance, joy, music, and that glorious, famous, energy-packed score!” shared Director Jack O’Brien. Choreographer Jerry Mitchell added, “HAIRSPRAY has always been about all of us dancing together! I am thrilled to welcome this NEW company of amazing #FULLOUT talents to lead the way as we dance across America with a message of inclusion and hope because ‘You really Can’t Stop the Beat!’” HAIRSPRAY is the story of 16-year-old Tracy Turnblad in 1960s Baltimore as she sets out to dance her way onto TV’s most popular show. Can a girl with big dreams (and even bigger hair) change the world? Featuring the beloved score of hit songs including “Welcome to the ’60s,” “Good Morning Baltimore,” and “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” HAIRSPRAY is “fresh, winning, and deliriously tuneful!” (The New York Times). HAIRSPRAY is based on the New Line Cinema film written and directed by John Waters, who served as a creative consultant on the musical comedy. It features a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan. HAIRSPRAY features an original score by Academy Award-nominated Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Additional creative team for HAIRSPRAY includes Tour Director Matt Lenz, Tour Choreographer Robbie Roby, Set Designer David Rockwell, Lighting Designer Kenneth Posner, Tour Lighting Designer Paul Miller, Costume Designer William Ivey Long, Hair and Wig Designers Paul Huntley and Bernie Ardia, Sound Designer Shannon Slaton, Music Supervisor Keith Thompson and Casting by Prather Productions. HAIRSPRAY premiered at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theater in June 2002. The show was a smash hit when it transferred to Broadway, winning eight 2003 Tony Awards including Best Musical, and became the longest-running musical to play the Neil Simon Theater, running 2,642 performances from July 18, 2002, until January 4, 2009. It is the 22nd longest running show in Broadway history.
Photo credit: Jeremy Daniel
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