Michael Ball to Play Edna in West End Hairspray; Newcomer Jones is Tracy

Michael Ball is preparing to step into the role of Edna Turnblad in the forthcoming West End transfer of hit Broadway musical Hairspray. The show is set to begin previews on October 11 and open on October 30 at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Newcomer Leanne Jones will play the starring role of Edna's daughter Tracy Turnblad.

Getting into drag for the role of the domineering mother in the stage adaptation of John Waters' cult film comedy marks a distinct change of style for Ball to say the least. The role of Edna Turnblad was played in the original movie by gay icon Divine, while Ball is best known for his dashing roles in shows such as The Phantom of the Opera and Aspects of Love. "The secret is to play Edna as a woman and not as a man in drag," Ball told The Daily Mail. "You behave like a woman and you convince people and find the pathos, the way Dustin Hoffman did in Tootsie.”"

Among his long list of achievements in musical theater, Ball starred in The Woman in White and Aspects of Love both in London and on Broadway. Other London credits include Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, The Pirates of Penzance, Passion and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In 1999, the actor was presented with the Theatregoers Club of Great Britain's Award for Most Popular Musical Actor of the last 21 years. He has also established himself as a recording artist, releasing a dozen solo albums. He was named The Variety Club of Great Britain's Best Recording Artist in 1998. Ball starred in the New York City Opera's production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Patience in 2005.

Hairspray tells the story of Edna and Tracy Turnblad and the latter's dream to dance on TV on the Corny Collins Show. An affectionate satire of early 1960s social mores and a celebration of the dance craze culture of that era, the story charts "pleasantly plump" Tracy's transformation from social outcast to overnight sensation. Duly ascended to the ranks of local celebrity in her home town of Baltimore, she must use her newfound power to vanquish the reigning teen queen, win the affections of heartthrob Link Larkin and racially integrate the Corny Collins Show's audience—all without denting her spectacular bouffant hairdo.

With music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman, a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan and direction by Jack O'Brien, the show became an immediate Broadway smash when it premiered at the Neil Simon Theatre in the summer of 2002, where it continues to run. The U.S. production received five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, as well as seven Drama Desk Awards and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical. A film of the musical, starring John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, will be released this summer.