"The Beav" is coming to Broadway: Jerry Mathers, who played the title role in TV's Leave It to Beaver from 1957 to 1963, will play Wilbur Turnblad in the Broadway production of Hairspray this summer, according to The New York Times. Mathers, who will be making his Broadway debut, begins performances on June 5 at the Neil Simon Theatre, replacing Jere Burns.
After his long run as Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, Mathers served in the Air Force National Guard during the Vietnam war and later earned a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley. He toured with TV co-star Tony Dow Wally Cleaver in stage productions of Boeing, Boeing and So Long, Stanley in the '80s and returned to his signature role in four TV episodes of Still the Beaver.
In addition to Burns, the current cast of Hairspray includes Shannon Durig as Tracy Turnblad, Paul Vogt as Edna Turnblad, Ashley Parker Angel as Link Larkin, Alexa Vega as Penny Pingleton, Tevin Campbell as Seaweed J. Stubbs, Darlene Love as Motormouth Maybelle, Brynn O'Malley as Amber Von Tussle, Isabel Keating as Velma Von Tussle and Susan Mosher as Prudy Pingleton.
