Lauren Smolka News

Almost ten years after its triumphant debut on Broadway, the eight-time Tony Award-winning musical HAIRSPRAY is making quite a resurgence lately, thanks to the plethora of regional theaters across the country that now have licenses to mount their own versions. It's a good thing, too, because the show is one of the funniest and most entertaining stage musicals of the modern era, and one that deserves an afterlife with a new crop of the nicest kids in town. Bursting with laughs and ear candy from heel to coif, the wonderful folks over at Musical Theatre West have put on a very worthy, slam-dunk of a revival, recreating HAIRSPRAY with impressive moxie and a staggeringly talented cast. The show continues its brief run at the Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts in Long Beach, California through November 13.

Hairspray, can't get enough of that Hairspray! 60s girls lacquered up their dos - hair, that is, with oodles and oodles of it until their hair was a sticky, gooey mess; well, the musical of the same name has been seen close to a half dozen times in the last several months, and few seem to tire of it...why? It's a stroll down memory lane, it's nostalgia... that is pleasant - even when it's about issues that aren't... like segregation, it's a far cry from the unpleasantness in today's world, so it goes down easier... and, it has all those crazy song and dance tunes of the era...well, an original score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, but one that sounds exactly like the hit tunes of the 60s. Musical Theatre West's (MTW) current production of the now classic Hairspray is about the best there is or has been, bar none! With an evenly spectacular cast, super direction by Larry Raben and stupendous choreography by Lee Martino, its star shines ever so brightly.

HAIRSPRAY opened in 2002 on Broadway and had 2,642 performances at the Neil Simon Theatre. With music by Marc Shaiman, Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Williams and book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, HAIRSPRAY and its feel-good, upbeat score includes the songs 'Good Morning Baltimore,' 'Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now' and 'You Can't Stop the Beat.'

Musical Theatre West is set to announce that it will open its 59th Season with the mega-hit HAIRSPRAY at the beautiful 1,070-seat Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach.

Musical Theatre West has announced that it will open its 59th Season with the mega-hit HAIRSPRAY at the beautiful 1,070-seat Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach.

Musical Theatre West is proud to announce that it will open its 59th Season with the mega-hit HAIRSPRAY at the beautiful 1,070-seat Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach. HAIRSPRAY previews October 28 and runs for fourteen performances through November 13, 2011

Musical Theatre West is set to announce that it will open its 59th Season with the mega-hit HAIRSPRAY at the beautiful 1,070-seat Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach.

Musical Theatre West has announced that it will open its 59th Season with the mega-hit HAIRSPRAY at the beautiful 1,070-seat Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach.

Musical Theatre West is proud to announce that it will open its 59th Season with the mega-hit HAIRSPRAY at the beautiful 1,070-seat Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach. HAIRSPRAY previews October 28 and runs for fourteen performances through November 13, 2011

HAIRSPRAY, the most anticipated musical theatre event of the summer, comes to the stage of the Moonlight Amphitheatre as part of Moonlight Stage Productions' 31st Summer Season. HAIRSPRAY is the Broadway musical phenomenon that inspired a major motion picture and captured eight Tony Awards including Best Musical in 2003. Now, for the first time at Moonlight, audiences will be swept away to 1960s Baltimore in this smash-hit musical that's piled bouffant-high with comedy and music. Tickets are priced $22-$50 and are on sale now through the VisTix Ticket Office at (760) 724-2110 and online at moonlightstage.com.