Michael Ball is Edna Turnblad in London's Hairspray

According to the London Daily Mail, leading man Michael Ball will explore his feminine side as hefty hausfrau Edna Turnblad in the upcoming West End production of Hairspray.

The buoyant musical will begin previews on October 11th and open on October 30th at the Shaftesbury Theater.  More casting will be announced.

Ball - who auditioned for the role - said: "The secret is to play Edna as a woman and not as a man in drag. You behave like a woman and you convince people and find the pathos, the way Dustin Hoffman did in Tootsie...It's a show that's fun and it confronts issues."

Ball has appeared on Broadway in Aspects of Love and, most recently, as Count Fosco in The Woman in White (he was also seen in both shows in London).  Ball originated the role of Marius in London's Les Miserables, and his other UK credits include The Phantom of the Opera, Passion, Sunset Boulevard and Chitty Chitty Bang.  This month, he appears in Kismet at the English National Opera.

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?," as the show is described in press materials.

Hairspray is based on the New Line Cinema film written and directed by John Waters, who serves as a creative consultant on the musical comedy. An upcoming film version of the Broadway musical, due for a July release, will star John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer and others.

The show, which celebrated its fourth anniversary on Broadway in August 2006, is the winner of eight 2003 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Actor (Harvey Fierstein), Best Actress (Marisa Jaret Winokur), Best Featured Actor (Dick Latessa), Best Score (Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman), Best Book (Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan), Best Director (Jack O'Brien), and Best Costume Design (William Ivey Long). Hairspray also swept every one of the year's best musical awards, winning, in addition to the Tony, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Drama League Award.

For more information about Hairspray, please visit the Hairspray website at www.hairsprayonbroadway.com.

Photo of Michael Ball by Ben Strothmann