Jan. 24, 2023

Contact Dillon McArdle at 608-796-3730 or dtmcardle@viterbo.edu

NATIONAL TOURING BROADWAY PRODUCTION OF HAIRSPRAY COMING TO VITERBO UNIVERSITY FEB. 4–5

LA CROSSE, Wis. – The national Broadway tour of Hairspray, the Tony Award®-winning musical comedy phenomenon, will come to the Viterbo University Fine Arts Center Main Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5.

Join 16-year-old Tracy Turnblad in 1960s Baltimore as she sets out to dance her way onto TV’s most popular show. Can a girl with big dreams (and even bigger hair) change the world? Hairspray features a beloved score of hit songs including Welcome to the ’60s, Good Morning Baltimore, and You Can’t Stop the Beat.

Hairspray won eight Tony Awards in 2003, including for best musical, book, score, and direction. This new touring production reunites Broadway’s award-winning creative team, led by director Jack O’Brien and choreographer Jerry Mitchell, to bring Hairspray to a new generation of theatre audiences.

The cast will be led by Andrew Levitt aka Nina West (from RuPaul’s Drag Race) as Edna Turnblad, Niki Metcalf as Tracy Turnblad and Sandie Lee as Motormouth Maybelle. Joining them are Charlie Bryant III as Seaweed J. Stubbs, Nick Cortazzo as Link Larkin, Ralph Prentice Daniel as Wilbur Turnblad, Billy Dawson as Corny Collins, Ryahn Evers as Amber Von Tussle, Addison Garner as Velma Von Tussle, Emery Henderson as Penny Pingleton and Joi D. McCoy as Little Inez.

The ensemble consists of Sydney Archibald, Kelly Barberito, Tommy Betz, Helene Britany, Caroline Eiseman, Melanie Puente Ervin, Craig First, Alex Fullerton, Annie Gagen, Carly Haig, Lauren Johnson, Sabrina Joseph, Greg Kalafatas, Kyle Kavully, Matthew J. Kelly, McLaine Meachem, Faith Northcutt, Nicholas Dion Reese, Sage, Micah Sauvageau, Clint Maddox Thompson, Jade Turner, Mickey White and Emmanuelle Zeesman.

“Hairspray is even more relevant today than 20 years ago when it first burst onto the scene,” O’Brien wrote. “With the renewed, refreshed energy, With the renewed, refreshed energy of the unforgettable ‘Nina West’ as Edna and a whole new generation of wildly talented kids across the board, we cannot wait to raise the various roofs once more with dance, joy, music, and that glorious, famous, energy-packed score!”

The cast includes 2021 Viterbo University graduate Lauren Johnson, who plays featured ensemble character Lorraine and serves as the understudy for the role of Motormouth Maybelle. Member biographies and other information are available in the online show program at www.viterbo.edu/show-programs.  

This performance is sponsored by WXOW News 19 and Candlewood Suites and supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tickets are $79 for main floor, $75 for lower balcony, and $69 for upper balcony seating, plus taxes and fees. For more information or to order tickets, contact the Viterbo box office at 608-796-3100 or visit www.viterbo.edu/tickets.

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Photo credit: "You Can't Stop The Beat" - (center) Niki Metcalf as “Tracy Turnblad” and Company in Hairspray. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.