Reports indicate that 'Hairspray' will end it's successful run on January 18th, 2009. Official word is expected at any moment, there is also a strong chance that Harvey Fierstein will return to his Tony Winning role of Edna Turnblad to help the show go out in style. A spokesperson for the show gave word that the official news will be released shortly.
BroadwayWorld reached out to Hairspray's Tony and Grammy Award Winning composer Marc Shaiman, who understandably was emotional about the news of the show's closing, he spoke to us about the joy of creating it and the rewards it continues to deliver, "We are very proud of our girl "HAIRSPRAY". She has many parents and an extended family that now reaches across numerous continents, not to mention ages and races. I guess this is how a parent feels when their kid moves out of the house. She'll give us all sorts of new pleasures that we have only recently begun to experience, such as the joy of seeing it performed by regional theaters, and then the best part, at community theaters and high schools like where Scott and I first learned the religion of musical theatre.
But still, I do not look forward to the day I watch her leave home for good. I honestly don't know if I will be able to take it, I am crying on my fingers as I type this right now just thinking of her not being there anymore and I suspect I pretty much won't stop crying for a good long while. And the vice-presidential debate hasn't even started yet! God, I wish I was in New York right now. I am jealous of those who are.
Ok, I'm completely farklempt now. Talk among yourselves. Oh well, as I said to the producers today "The sooner we close, the sooner the revival!"
In Hairspray it's 1962—the '50s are out and change is in the air. Baltimore's Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion—to dance. She wins a spot on the local TV dance program, "The Corny Collins Show" and, overnight, is transformed from outsider to irrepressible teen celebrity. But can a plus-size trendsetter in dance and fashion vanquish the program's reigning princess, win the heart of heartthrob Link Larkin, and integrate a television show without denting her 'do? Only in Hairspray! Welcome to the '60s!
