The hit Brenda Edwards and Paul Kerryson-directed production of Hairspray will embark on its second major UK and Ireland tour in 2027.
Tag Archives | Hairspray
Music Review: Marisha Wallace – Live in London
Marisha Wallace – Live in London (Westway Music, Center Stage Records). Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Marisha Wallace’s personable, conversational delivery and vocal quality are sublime as ever.
Hairspray – Leicester Curve and Touring
Hairspray continues at Leicester Curve until 28 September 2024. The tour continues until 19 April 2025. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ Hairspray is a high-haired huge-hearted hit and is always a must-see show whenever it plays our stages.
Hairspray – Milton Keynes Theatre and Touring
Hairspray continues at the Milton Keynes Theatre until 7 September 2024. The tour continues until 19 April 2025. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ In the end the Milton Keynes audience couldn’t stop their dancing feet – which bodes well for the rest of the tour.
Musical theatre debut for singer Michelle Ndegwa in Hairspray on tour
Soul and gospel singer Michelle Ndegwa will make her professional acting debut as Motormouth Maybelle in the upcoming UK and Ireland tour of Hairspray.
Brenda Edwards to co-direct touring Hairspray
Former X Factor finalist turned musical theatre star and TV ‘loose woman’ Brenda Edwards (Chicago, We Will Rock You) will make her directorial debut next summer when she joins Paul Kerryson to stage the 2024/2025 UK and Ireland tour of Hairspray.
Hairspray – Kilworth House Theatre
Hairspray continues at Kilworth House Theatre, Leicestershire until 6 August 2023. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Hairspray is pure joy from start to finish, a powerful shot of theatrical dopamine for the soul, and this summer is going to be a really special one for Kilworth House.
Hairspray – Milton Keynes Theatre and Touring
Hairspray continues at the Milton Keynes Theatre until 4 December and then tours until 2 April 2022. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Hairspray bounces onto the stage of Milton Keynes Theatre, finalising a fantastic run of touring shows for the theatre before panto season closes the year. The high-energy, feel-good musical […]
Nominees for 2021 Black British Theatre Awards
The Color Purple – At Home, The Last Five Years and West End Musical Celebration are in the running for the Best Musical Production Award at the 2021 Black British Theatre Awards (BBTAs) next month. Following on from last year’s special socially distanced event at London’s Young Vic Theatre which was broadcast on Sky Arts, the winners of the third BBTAs […]
John Thomson to join Hairspray at Blackpool Winter Gardens this Christmas
TV and comedy star John Thomson (Cold Feet, The Fast Show) will join the UK tour of Hairspray as Wilbur Turnblad this Christmas for three weeks at Blackpool Winter Gardens (13 December 2021 to 2 January 2022). In his first ever musical theatre stage role, Thomson will be joining musician, actress and television presenter Brenda […]
Hairspray – Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury and Touring
Hairspray continues at the Waterside Theatre, Ayelsbury until 11 September 2021 and then tours until 2 April 2022. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ It’s the first show at Aylesbury Waterside since before the pandemic hit and heartbreakingly forced many of our theatres to shut. With the doors now fully open, what […]
Marisha Wallace concert tour dates and new EP
Marisha Wallace will follow her London Coliseum run in Hairspray by heading out on tour across the UK to perform songs from her 2020 debut pop album Tomorrow and her new EP Soul of the Stage. The actress who made her West End debut in Dreamgirls at the Savoy Theatre and appeared on Broadway in […]
Hairspray – London Coliseum
Hairspray continues at the London Coliseum until 29 September 2021. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ During the curtain call for the new West End production of Hairspray I took in the view from my seat in the stalls. A full standing ovation has never looked so beautiful. Yes, there were 1,000 rather than […]
After 14 long months in the desert Leicester Curve has reopened
Aura Simon reports: After 14 long months in the desert, it’s a strange and beautiful thing to be standing once more in a queue for the theatre. On one hand, everything feels potently bittersweet and cathartic after more than a year of having to swallow the loss of our ways of life. Somehow at the […]
Les Dennis to return as Wilbur Turnblad in Hairspray at the London Coliseum
Entertainment favourite Les Dennis will return to the role of Wilbur Turnblad when the eagerly-anticipated London Coliseum production of Hairspray the Musical begins performances on 21 June 2021. The stage and screen star whose varied career has taken him from the Northern club circuit to the RSC stage in Stratford-upon-Avon via the cobbles of Coronation […]
Casting for Hairspray 2021/2022 UK and Ireland tour
Alex Bourne, Brenda Edwards and Norman Pace will be hitting the high notes in Hairspray when the UK and Ireland tour relaunches at Plymouth Theatre Royal on 24 June 2021. Bourne (Annie, Mamma Mia!) will step into the distinctive high hair and high heels of Edna Turnblad opposite comedy star Pace (Chicago, The Rocky Horror […]
Hairspray and Priscilla tours to return from June
Leading independent producer Mark Goucher has unveiled plans for a summer return for the hit touring productions of Hairspray and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. With the Government’s roadmap hopes of a 21 June 2021 return to full indoor performances in mind and thanks to a loan from the Culture Recovery Fund, the producer who […]
Line-up for 21st WhatsOnStage Awards revealed
Details of the star-studded line-up for this year’s special WhatsOnStage Awards ceremony have been unveiled. Reflecting current times as the industry awaits the return to live theatre following the Covid crisis, the event will feature performances from shows that were cut short in 2020 and selections from productions planned for 2021. Jodie Prenger and Tom […]
Musicals: The Greatest Show – BBC1 and BBC iPlayer
Musicals: The Greatest Show – BBC1 and BBC iPlayer (where it is available for a year). Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ As soon as the great Ramin Karimloo launched into a sublime ‘Music of the Night’, tears started rolling down cheeks and shivers tumbled like a waterfall down the spine. We […]
Sheridan Smith to host Palladium show as part of BBC musicals special
Sheridan Smith will return to the London Palladium to host a star-studded transatlantic celebration of the music and stars of musical theatre and film on BBC Radio 2 later this month. Musicals: The Greatest Show will be the centrepiece of Radio 2 Celebrates Musicals – three days of programming on the national radio station along […]
Marisha Wallace releases new album Tomorrow and announces tour dates for 2021
At the same time as her new album ‘Tomorrow’ is released, West End and Broadway performer Marisha Wallace has announced an all-new UK tour for 2021. The musical powerhouse – who has dazzled both the Royal Variety Performance and Strictly Come Dancing in recent days – is heading out on a six-date tour next autumn. […]
The Show Must Go On – Hairspray – The Lost Alhambra
The Show Must Go On – Hairspray at The Lost Alhambra, London, Friday and Saturday nights. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Leicester Square’s hot new nightspot, The Lost Alhambra, is actually a reboot of one of central London’s most historically significant bars. The Alhambra Theatre opened in 1854 and sent shockwaves through polite […]
INTERVIEW: Actress Chlöe Hart on returning to the role of Tracy Turnblad – in a prison production – & what it meant to her
In February and March, just before Covid-19 locked down theatreland, CHLÖE HART went to prison to revisit the role of Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray that took her from the Guildford School of Acting directly to a West End lead role at the Shaftesbury in 2009. Here she tells Musical Theatre Review contributor Jeremy Chapman what […]
Hairspray at the London Coliseum is delayed once again – to April 2021
The producers of Hairspray the Musical have announced new 2021 dates for the eagerly-anticipated London Coliseum production. Originally due to open at the London venue in April this year, the production will now begin its strictly limited 19-week season a year later on 22 April 2021 (ending on 29 August). Featuring Michael Ball’s return to […]
Hairspray announces rescheduled season dates at the London Coliseum
The producers of Hairspray the Musical have announced new performance dates for the multi award-winning smash hit musical at the London Coliseum. The production will now begin performances on 1 September 2020 (press night is 8 September 2020) and plays a strictly limited 10-week season to 8 November. Until 4 May, all existing ticket holders […]
Hairspray The Musical – HMP Bronzefield, Surrey
Hairspray The Musical at HMP Bronzefield, Ashford, Surrey. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Once again Pimlico Opera has worked a near-miracle in training up the “residents” of Europe’s biggest all-women prison in five short weeks to sing, dance and act to undreamed-of heights. This is the fourth time Pimlico and HMP Bronzefield […]
TOUR NEWS: Bring It On, Sister Act, Say Yes To Tess, Waitress, Hairspray, Six and School Of Rock – The Musical
Angela Thomas catches up with the latest touring news… BRING IT ON The first UK and Ireland tour of the Broadway musical version of hit teen film Bring It On will culminate in a London festive season at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Presented by Selladoor Productions, the Tony-nominated tale of duelling cheerleaders which is […]
Five Questions With: Marisha Wallace
MARISHA WALLACE, one of the West End and Broadway’s most instantly recognisable voices and beloved leading ladies, is heading out on her first ever UK tour, beginning at the Waterside Theatre, Sale on 8 March 2020. The star of such smash-hit shows as Dreamgirls, Waitress, Aladdin and The Book of Mormon will play a series of theatre shows before […]
Paul Merton to star opposite Michael Ball in Hairspray
Comedy favourite Paul Merton will make his West End musical debut as Wilbur Turnblad in the eagerly-anticipated London Coliseum production of Hairspray the Musical. The stand-up star and long-time team captain on TV’s Have I Got News For You will join Michael Ball when he steps back into his Olivier Award-winning role as Edna Turnblad […]
Chloe Hart revisits the role of Tracy Turnblad in Pimlico Opera’s Hairspray at HMP Bronzefield
Chloe Hart revisits the role of Tracy Turnblad in March 2020, the part which put her on a West End stage even before she had graduated from the Guildford School of Acting in 2009. And she’s going to prison to do it. Hart stars with Christopher Howell in Hairspray when Pimlico Opera returns to HMP […]
Lizzie Bea and Marisha Wallace are cast in West End production of Hairspray
Lizzie Bea and Marisha Wallace will join Michael Ball when he steps back into his Olivier Award-winning role as Edna Turnblad in the eagerly-anticipated London Coliseum production of Hairspray the Musical next year. Currently performing in the UK tour of Kinky Boots, Bea will star as Tracy Tunblad with Dreamgirls’ Wallace following her co-starring role […]
Meet Me in St Louis is the next musical for Grange Park Opera
The rarely-performed Meet Me in St Louis is to be Grange Park Opera’s musical for their 2020 summer season. The title song apart, the show has such showstoppers as ‘The Trolley Song’, ‘Under the Bamboo Tree’, ‘Skip to My Lou’ and ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’. Better known as an early (1944) Judy Garland […]
Shoshana Bean to play London date in September
Broadway and recording artist Shoshana Bean will return to London to perform her fourth studio album Spectrum live at Cadogan Hall on 9 September 2018. Presented by Club 11 London and featuring an 18-piece band, the show will feature the popular star and special guests performing tracks from the album. With arrangements by Grammy Award […]
Hairspray – Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff and Touring
Hairspray was reviewed at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff; the tour then continues until 3 June 2018. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Off to a head start (if you’ll forgive the pun) in the Donald Gordon Theatre at Wales Millennium Centre, this brand new touring production of Hairspray ticks most of […]
Broadway librettist – ‘a giant of the theatre’ – Thomas Meehan dies
Tributes have been paid to triple Tony Award-winning writer Thomas Meehan who has passed away at the age of 88. Widely seen as one of Broadway’s leading librettists, Meehan won his first Tony Award for his work with lyricist/director Martin Charmin and composer Charles Strouse in turning the comic strip Little Orphan Annie into the […]
Hairspray tour – casting details
Casting has been revealed for the touring production of the hit musical Hairspray which will begin its second major UK and Ireland tour in Cardiff on 16 August 2017. Comedian and actor Norman Pace [pictured left] will play Wilbur Turnblad, while Rebecca Mendoza makes her professional debut playing Tracy Turnblad. Matt Rixon (Edna Turnblad), Brenda Edwards […]
Hairspray back on national tour in 2017
Producers have confirmed the successful touring production of the hit musical Hairspray will begin its second major UK and Ireland tour in Cardiff on 16 August 2017. The production of the multi-award winning show will visit more than 30 venues on its return trip around the country which will last until the early summer of […]
Shoshana Bean to move into The Singers Lounge in September
Broadway and recording artist Shoshana Bean will return to London this autumn to take up an eight-show residency at Covent Garden’s The Singers Lounge. The American star who was the first to take over the role of Elphaba in the original production of Wicked will play the space at Pizza Express in St Martin’s Lane […]
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tour – Claire Sweeney replaces Michelle Collins
Claire Sweeney will play the role of Baroness Bomburst in Music & Lyrics and West Yorkshire Playhouse’s production of the Sherman Brothers musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, from Wednesday 3 August 2016. The production is touring across the UK and Ireland until February 2017. Michelle Collins, who currently plays Baroness Bomburst, leaves the production on 30 […]
Broadway’s Shayna Steele to make UK solo debut at Pizza Express Jazz Club
Broadway star Shayna Steele will give her first ever UK solo performances next week at Soho’s Pizza Express Jazz Club. The singer/songwriter who appeared in New York productions of Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar and Hairspray, will play two shows at the London venue on 19 and 20 April. Currently on tour in Europe to promote […]
Hairspray to tour UK for second time in 2017
The highly successful touring production of the hit musical Hairspray which is due to end in May will hit the road for a second major UK tour in 2017. The new production of the multi award-winning show began its UK tour last year at the Curve Theatre, Leicester, and is due to end its current […]
Michael Ball to host 40th anniversary Olivier Awards
The Olivier Awards with MasterCard have today announced that Michael Ball will host this year’s awards ceremony. The awards, which this year celebrate their 40th anniversary, will be presented at a star-studded ceremony on Sunday 3 April at the Royal Opera House. Michael Ball, the celebrated musical theatre star, is a two-time Olivier Award-winner whose career in […]
Early look at Hairspray UK tour cast in action
New images have been released of Tony Maudsley, Claire Sweeney, Peter Duncan, Freya Sutton, Ashley Gilmour, Layton Williams and Vanessa Fisher who will star in the 40-week UK tour of Hairspray this autumn. The photographs are by Ellie Kurttz. This musical comedy will begin its UK tour at Leicester’s Curve theatre on 9 September 2015 and will then tour to more than 25 […]
New Hairspray tour – Tony Maudsley and Claire Sweeney lead cast
A new production of Hairspray will embark on a major UK tour in 2015/16. The musical comedy will begin its UK tour at Leicester Curve on 9 September 2015 and will then tour to more than 25 venues across the UK, including a Christmas residency at Birmingham Alexandra Theatre in December 2015. Tony Maudsley (well known for his long-running […]
Interview – Michael Ball chats about his new album and musical theatre challenges
MICHAEL BALL’s new solo album If Everyone Was Listening… is released on Monday 17 November. Lisa Martland has a story to tell… I have a confession to make, and don’t worry, it’s nothing scandalous about double Olivier Award-winner Michael Ball. It is more to do with what happened just a few days after I had the […]
Hairspray set to tour in 2015, directed by Paul Kerryson
A new production of Hairspray will embark on a major UK tour in 2015/16. The musical comedy will begin its UK tour at Leicester’s Curve theatre on 9 September 2015 and will then tour to 29 venues across the UK, including a Christmas residency at Birmingham Alexandra Theatre in December 2015. Hairspray will be directed by […]
Hairspray – Curve Leicester
Hairspray continues at Curve, Leicester until April 5. It’s hard to believe that this is Rebecca Craven’s professional musical debut. Best known to TV viewers of the BBC1 school saga Waterloo Road, she looks completely at home in the lead role of Tracy Turnblad, the dumpy teenager who dreams of being Miss Teenage Hairspray 1962. […]
Rebecca Craven makes it big in Hairspray at Leicester’s Curve
Best-known for playing the inconsolable Rhiannon in the BBC drama series Waterloo Road, actress Rebecca Craven is taking her talents in a new direction, making her professional theatre debut as Tracy Turnblad in the new production of Hairspray at Leicester’s Curve theatre. Playing the teenager with high hopes, huge ambitions and even bigger hair, Craven […]
Hairspray first of musical-packed Curve season
New productions of Hairspray, Water Babies, The Sound of Music and Barnum are all heading to the Leicester Curve in 2014. Not long now until the venue’s new production of Olivier Award-winning musical Hairspray opens (28 February–5 April, press night is 5 March), staged by the venue’s artistic director Paul Kerryson. Leading the cast are: David […]
Verity Rushworth – Chicago-bound
Former soap star Verity Rushworth is taking on the role of Velma Kelly at the Curve, Leicester, in a brand new production of Chicago. As the show’s memorable opening line states, it’s ‘a story of murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery’. Bit like an episode of Emmerdale, really. Born in West Yorkshire, Rushworth […]
