Way Off Broadway staging ?Hairspray?

Hot off the heels of ?Jesus Christ Superstar,? Way Off Broadway is preparing to open ?Hairspray? in July as its summer season continues.

?Hairspray? is a musical based on the 1988 film, with book by Mark O?Donnell and Thomas Meehan, music by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. The musical, set in 1962 Baltimore, Md., is the story of Tracy Turnblad, a girl with a dream to dance on ?The Corny Collins Show.? When Tracy wins a role on the program, she becomes a celebrity overnight and launches a campaign to integrate the show.

The musical?s original Broadway production opened Aug. 15, 2002, and won eight Tony Awards out of 13 nominations. It ran for more than 2,500 performances and closed on Jan. 4, 2009. ?Hairspray? also has had U.S. national tours, a London West End production, a United Kingdom tour and numerous foreign productions. It was most recently adapted for a 2007 musical film. The London production was nominated for a record-setting 11 Laurence Olivier Awards and won for Best New Musical and three other categories.

For Way Off Broadway?s production, Stan Brown will play the role of mother Edna, which was played by Divine in the 1988 film, Harvey Feinstein in 2002 on Broadway and John Travolta in the 2007 movie version. Brown first appeared in a Way Off Broadway production with Robby Benson?s musical ?Open Heart? during the 2008 summer season. He has since returned to the Sondheim center to sing a fundraiser for the musical theater company. As a youngster, Brown joined the church choir in his hometown of Harleyville, S.C. and took private singing lessons and voice for actor training.

John Smitherman, another national talent, will make his Way Off Broadway premiere as Wilbur, Edna?s devoted husband. Smitherman is a talent who has been embraced by critics throughout the United States for his unique tenor voice.

Local favorite Evan Martin will return to play Seaweed. In the past, Martin has played Jim in ?Big River,? Burger in ?Hair? and Snoopy in ?Snoopy.?

Fairfield?s own Shannon Cochran, who has most recently played Rapunzel in ?Into the Woods,? will play the bouncy, life-loving Tracy.

Other actors will be Aaron Alan as Linc Larkin, Emily Jansen as Amber Von Tussle, Hannah MacDonald playing Penny, Troy Jackson as Motormouth Maybelle, Margaret Clair as Velma Von Tussle, Brian Watson as Corny Collins and Miranda Lawson playing Little Inez. The rest of the cast is rounded out by the company?s summer interns and local talent.

Randal K. West will direct, New York choreographer Roy Lightner will stage the dance numbers and Margaret Clair will musically direct.

?Hairspray? will run at 7:30 p.m. July 15-16 and July 21-23 and at 2 p.m. July 17 and 24.

Tickets are $28 general and $18 for students and seniors 65 and older. Tickets are available at the ticket office, by calling 472-2787 or visiting the website fairfieldacc.com.

For information, call West at 919-0580 or email him at rwest@wobroadway.com.