Michael Ball To Reprise His Olivier Award-Winning Role Of 'Edna' For UK HAIRSPRAY Tour

WhatsOnStage.com is reporting that the smash musical "HAIRSPRAY" will launch its first-ever UK tour in 2010, with Michael Ball reprising his acclaimed role as big mama Edna Turnblad, for which he won both the Whatsonstage.com and Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actor in a Musical.

The tour will run concurrently with the ongoing West End production, which Ball finished in last month, and is set to open at the Cardiff Millennium Centre, where it will run from 30 March to 24 April 2010, before moving through to 4 September to Glasgow, Southampton, Wolverhampton, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, with further dates to be announced reports WOS.

Michael Ball is set to appear in Glasgow, Southampton and Manchester as well as Cardiff. Further star casting for Edna and other principal parts has yet to be announced.

This news also reveals the close working relationship between Michael Ball and the show's UK Production Company, Stage Entertainment.

WhatsOnStage also confirms that Ball has been appointed as associate producer of Stage and will work with Stage in developing new work and roles, including ones specifically shaped for the actor. To read more on the announcement on WhatsOnStage.com click here.

The smash hit musical "HAIRSPRAY" opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in October 2007 and won ‘Best Musical' at the 2008 Olivier Awards, the Evening Standard Awards, the Whatsonstage.com Awards and the Critics' Circle Awards. The show also re-couped it's entire £3.5 million capitalisation in a record-breaking 29 weeks, and is credited as playing a large role in the regeneration of the Shaftesbury Theatre's surrounding district. "HAIRSPRAY" is produced in the West End by Stage Entertainment with Margo Lion, The Baruch/Viertel/Routh/Frankel Group and New Line Cinema in association with others from the Broadway producing team.  

"HAIRSPRAY" opened at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York in August 2002 to rave reviews and public acclaim. "HAIRSPRAY" subsequently swept the board at the 2003 Tony Awards, winning 8 including ‘Best Musical', the Drama Desk Awards, winning 10 including ‘Best Musical', and the Outer Critics Circle Awards, winning 5 including ‘Best Broadway Musical'.

"HAIRSPRAY" also won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for ‘Best Musical' and the Drama League Award for ‘Outstanding Musical Production'.  The show has also played two hugely successful US tours as well as seasons in Toronto and Las Vegas, and further afield in South Africa, Brazil and Scandinavia. 

"HAIRSPRAY" has a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman. The musical is based on the New Line Cinema film, written and directed by John Waters. The musical is directed by Jack O'Brien and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. The scenic design is by David Rockwell, the costumes by William Ivey Long, the lighting by Kenneth Posner and the sound by Steve C. Kennedy. With orchestrations by Harold Wheeler and arrangements by Marc Shaiman, the musical direction is by Lon Hoyt. The West End production of "HAIRSPRAY" is staged by the entire original Broadway creative team.  Performances times at the Shaftesbury Theatre are Mondays to Saturdays at 7.30pm, with Thursday and Saturday matinees at 3.00pm. Tickets, priced from £22.50 - £62.50, are available from the Shaftesbury Theatre Box Office on 0207 379 5399 or by visiting www.hairspraythemusical.co.uk.