Big Laughs, Big Tour, Big Stars….Broadway and West End Smash Hit

Hairspray returns to London for two weeks in 2011 with MICHAEL BALL & MICKY DOLENZ starring as Edna and Wilbur Turnblad

NEW WIMBLEDON THEATRE

Tuesday 15 to Saturday 26 March 2011

Olivier Award winner Michael Ball , who originated the role of larger than life heroine ‘Edna Turnblad' in the London production of HAIRSPRAY, will  reprise the role at New Wimbledon Theatre when the smash hit West End show returns to London as part of its extensive UK tour. . Monkees star Micky Dolenz will also be reprising the role of loveable, ever so slightly crazy joke shop owner ‘Wilbur Turnblad'.

Its 1962, the 50s are out and change is in the air.  Baltimore's ‘Tracy Turnblad', a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion – dancing.  She wins a spot on the local TV dance programme, The Corny Collins Show and, overnight, is transformed from outsider to irrepressible teen celebrity.  But can a trendsetting hair-hopper like Tracy get her massively shy Mom out of the apartment, beat evil Amber to be crowned Miss Hairspray, integrate Corny's show for good AND win the heart of local heartthrob Link Larkin, all without denting her ‘do?  If anyone can, Tracy can!

Olivier Award winner Michael Ball is Britain's leading musical theatre star and a multi-platinum selling recording artist.  With his top rated BBC Radio 2 show, Michael Ball's Sunday Brunch , and his regular concert tours Michael has won critical acclaim and the hearts of a fiercely loyal public.  He has starred in productions on both sides of the Atlantic including The Phantom of the Opera , Les Misérables , Aspects of Love , Passion , The Woman in White and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and made his debut with the New York City Opera in 2005 in Gilbert & Sullivan's Patience.  Michael has presented a number of his own high profile television shows including his Michael Ball Christmas Special, An Evening With Michael Ball and he is a regular guest presenter of ITV1's This Morning and BBC1's Lottery shows . The tour also marks the first stage of a closer working relationship between the star and producers, Stage Entertainment.  This will involve developing new work and roles both onstage and in a production capacity for Michael in the future.  Plans include a major musical revival in 2011.

Micky Dolenz is an actor, musician, writer and director.  Starting out as a child star on US television in Circus Boy , he shot to fame in the globally successful, Emmy Award winning NBC television show The Monkees .  Playing a band in the show, the actors were also hugely successful as a chart group with international hits including I'm A Believer , Last Train To Clarksville and Daydream Believer .  Since the band, he has guested in many television shows, provided voiceover for countless animated series and written, produced and directed for television, notably in the UK as lead producer/director on the hit children's show Metal Mickey.  He has also appeared in Elton John and Tim Rice's AIDA on Broadway and on stage in the USA in Pippin' , Grease and A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum .  In the early 1980s, Dolenz directed a stage version of Alan Parker's  Bugsy Malone in the West End , the cast of which included a then unknown 14-year-old Catherine Zeta-Jones.  

Commenting on the Hairspray tour Michael Ball said: “I knew when I originally took on the part of Edna that she was going to be a big part of my life, in every way, but I never realised just how big.  Hairspray is truly one of the greatest experiences of my career and the chance to have just a few more nights in those frocks was an opportunity I couldn't miss!  Moving forward, to now be working as an Associate Producer with Stage Entertainment developing new shows, new roles and new opportunities in the future is an honour, and something I can't wait to get stuck in to.”

Danny Bayne, who won ITV's Grease is the Word will play ‘Corny Collins', winner of GMTV's search for Troy in High School Musical 2 , Liam Doyle will take on the role of ‘Link Larkin' and Laurie Scarth will play ‘Tracy Turnblad'. Other cast will include Sandra Marvin as ‘Motormouth Maybelle', Gillian Kirkpatrick as ‘Velma Von Tussle' and Wayne Robinson as ‘Seaweed', Emma Dukes as ‘Penny Pingleton', Clare Hulse as ‘Amber Von Tussle' and Seliza Sebastian as ‘Little Inez'.

The smash hit award-winning musical HAIRSPRAY at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London recouped its entire capitalisation in a record-breaking 29 weeks. The show opened in October 2007 to universal critical acclaim and smash hit business. At the 2008 Olivier Awards, HAIRSPRAY won Best Musical, as well as Best Actor in a Musical for Michael Ball.  The show has also won Best Musical at the Evening Standard Awards, the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers Choice awards, the Critics' Circle Awards and the Variety Club Showbiz Awards. The London production closed at the Shaftesbury Theatre in March of this year – don't miss its triumphant two week return to London!

ENDS

For further enquiries please contact New Wimbledon Theatre Press Officer Mark Jones on 0208 545 7919 or markjones@theambassadors.com

HAIRSPRAY – Tuesday 15 to Saturday 26 March 2011

New Wimbledon Theatre, The Broadway, London, SW19 1QG

Show times: Week 1 – Tues to Sat eves at 7.30pm, Weds, Thurs and Sat mats at 2.30pm. Week 2 – Mon to Sat eves at 7.30pm, Thurs and Sat mats at 2.30pm

TICKETS

Telephone: 0844 871 7646 (bkg fee)

Online: www.ambassadortickets.com/wimbledon

Or in person at the New Wimbledon Theatre Box Office

Price: £16.50 – £43.50

More information can be found at www.hairspraythemusical.com

NOTES

Please note the Press Night for ‘Hairspray' will take place on Wednesday 16 March at 7.30pm. To request review tickets please contact Mark Jones on 0208 545 7919 or markjones@theambassadors.com .

“HAIRSPRAY” is produced in the West End by Stage Entertainment with Margo Lion, The Baruch/Viertel/Routh/Frankel Group and New Line Cinema in association with others from the Broadway producing team.

 “HAIRSPRAY” opened at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York in August 2002 to rave reviews and public acclaim. “HAIRSPRAY” subsequently swept the board at the 2003 Tony Awards, winning 8 including ‘Best Musical', the Drama Desk Awards, winning 10 including ‘Best Musical', and the Outer Critics Circle Awards, winning 5 including ‘Best Broadway Musical'. “HAIRSPRAY” also won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for ‘Best Musical' and the Drama League Award for ‘Outstanding Musical Production'.  The show has also played two hugely successful US tours as well as seasons in Toronto and Las Vegas, and further afield in South Africa, Brazil and Scandinavia.

“HAIRSPRAY” has a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman. The musical is based on the New Line Cinema film, written and directed by John Waters. The musical is directed by Jack O'Brien and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. The scenic design is by David Rockwell, the costumes by William Ivey Long, the lighting by Kenneth Posner and the sound by Steve C. Kennedy. With orchestrations by Harold Wheeler and arrangements by Marc Shaiman, the musical direction is by Lon Hoyt. The West End production of “HAIRSPRAY” is staged by the entire original Broadway creative team.

Hairspray continues to tour the UK visiting Dublin, Bradford, Edinburgh, Woking, Norwich, Eastbourne, Nottingham, Aberdeen and Bristol. Tour dates and cast details for each venue can be found at www.hairspraythemusical.com