Wednesday, October 22, 2008

You Can Stop the Beat *UPDATE*

It's official.

Playbill is reporting that smash Broadway musical "Hairspray" will play it's last performance on January 4, 2009--closing two weeks before "Monty Python's Spamalot."

Harvey Fierstein will rejoin the cast as Edna Turnblad next month and play through to the show's end. Fierstein won a Tony Award for Best Actor for the role.

"Hairspray" tells the story of Tracy Turnblad, a teenage girl who wants to dance on "The Corny Collins Show"--an American Bandstandesque show--in 1960s Baltimore, Md. Despite being "pleasantly plump," she becomes a break-out star, finds love and changes the world. Her mother helps guide her. It is based on the John Waters film of the same name.

The show opened in August of 2002 and took home several awards at the 2003 Tony Awards. Besides Fierstein's win, "Hairspray" also won for Best Actress among others. It took home the coveted "Best New Musical" Tony as well. A movie version of the musical opened in 2007, starring John Travolta as Edna Turnblad.

A sequel to the movie is in the works.

The show currently plays at the Neil Simon Theater.

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