Nick Adams, Beth Leavel, John Waters & More Set For Hairspray Concert

Broadway vets Nick Adams, Marissa Perry, Tony winner Beth Leavel, The Monkees drummer Micky Dolenz and more are set to join John Waters in a concert version of the hit musical Hairspray with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Featuring music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Thomas Meehan and the late Mark O’Donnell, the Hairspray concert will take place January 26 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, Maryland. The concert is in honor of the original Hairspray film's 25th anniversary.

Hairspray will star Adams as Link Larkin, Perry as Tracy Turnblad, Leavel as Velma von Tussle, Dolenz as Wilbur Turnblad, Paul Vogt as Edna Turnblad, Julie Kavanagh (La Cage aux Folles national tour) as Penny Pingleton, Rhiannon Hansen (Legally Blonde national tour) as Amber von Tussle, NaTasha Yvette Williams (Porgy and Bess) as Motormouth Maybelle, Marcus Terrell (TV’s American Idol) as Seaweed J. Stubbs, Brett Shuford (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) as Corny Collins, Alix Korey (Hello! Dolly) as Female Authority Figure, Natalie Renee Perkins, Nikki Stephenson and Melisa Van Pelt as The Dynamites, and Hairspray film writer and director John Waters as the narrator. Students from the Baltimore School for the Arts will serve as the ensemble.

Adapted from the 1988 Waters film of the same name, Hairspray is the story of Tracy Turnblad, a plus-sized teen from 1960s Baltimore who becomes a cast member of a popular local TV dance show and uses her platform to lead a civil rights movement. Hairspray originally opened on Broadway on August 15, 2002 starring Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Janet Winokur. The production won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical. A film adaptation of the musical was released in 2007 starring John Travolta and Nikki Blonsky.

Adams’ Broadway credits include Priscilla Queen of the Desert, La Cage aux Folles, Guys and Dolls, The Pirate Queen, A Chorus Line and Chicago. Perry, who is reprising the role of Tracy after starring in Hairspray on Broadway, has also appeared in Sister Act. Leavel earned a Tony Award for The Drowsy Chaperone and an additional nomination for Baby It’s You! Her other Broadway credits include 42nd Street, Crazy For You, Show Boat, The Civil War, Mamma Mia!, Young Frankenstein and Elf.