Original Broadway stars plus Drew Carey, John Stamos, Nick Jonas set for Bowl’s ‘Hairspray’
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Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur will re-create their Tony-winning roles when the Hollywood Bowl stages the Broadway hit ‘Hairspray’ this summer. Joining them in the cast -- which the Bowl will announce Tuesday -- will be Drew Carey, John Stamos, Nick Jonas, Darlene Love and Corbin Bleu.
The musical, which will run Aug. 5-7, will be directed and choreographed by Tony winner Jerry Mitchell, who choreographed the original show.
Fierstein and Winokur will be performing together in ‘Hairspray’ for the first time since the Broadway production closed in 2009. Winokur will return as zaftig teenager Tracy Turnblad, who uses a TV dance show to strike a blow for integration in 1960s Baltimore. Actor-writer Fierstein, a multiple Tony winner, will play Tracy’s reclusive and even more zaftig mother, Edna, and comedian Carey, the host of CBS’ ‘The Price Is Right,’ will play her father, Wilbur.
Stamos, seen recently on Fox’s ‘Glee’ and in Broadway’s 2009 ‘Bye Bye Birdie,’ will portray dance show host Corny Collins. Pop rocker Jonas, whose stage credits include ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Les Miserables,’ will be heartthrob Link Larkin. Love, a 2011 inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, also appeared in ‘Hairspray’ in New York and will reprise her performance as record shop owner Motormouth Maybelle. Bleu (Disney’s ‘High School Musical’ and Broadway’s ‘In the Heights’) will play her son, Seaweed.
The cast also will include ‘American Idol’ alum Diana DeGarmo, Tara Macri and Mo Gaffney.
‘Hairspray,’ which is based on the 1988 John Waters film, features music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman, and a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan. It opened on Broadway in 2002, won eight Tonys including one for best musical and ran for more than 2,600 performances. (Fierstein and Winokur rejoined the production at the end of its run.) A 2007 movie version starred John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah and Nikki Blonsky.
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Above: Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur in the original Broadway production of ‘Hairspray.’ Credit: Ari Mintz / Newsday.