Aubrey O'Day Joins Hairspray Cast As Amber 7/18

The producers of Hairspray, winner of eight 2003 Tony Awards® including Best Musical, have announced that Aubrey O'Day of Danity Kane will make her Broadway debut as Tracy Turnblad's stuck-up arch-nemesis Amber Von Tussle on Friday, July 18, at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre, 250 West 52 Street.  O'Day will play the resident princess on "The Corny Collins Show" opposite former "Making the Band" star, Ashley Parker Angel as dreamy Link Larkin, through August 31.

Aubrey fell in love with the stage at age 4 performing as Molly in Annie.  Numerous musical productions in regional theatre followed, including: Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz; Carmen in Fame; Sandy in Grease; Liesl in The Sound of Music; Val in A Chorus Line; and Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof.  Aubrey traveled the world serving international charities, and recently founded an AIDS educational charity, F.A.N. and a clothing line, heartonmysleeveshop.com.  She entered an MTV reality show contest, "Making the Band 3," succeeding in the formation of the platinum selling group, Danity Kane; the first female group in Billboard history to have both their debut and sophomore albums enter the main charts at number-one.

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!

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.  It features a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, and a score by five-time Academy Award nominee Marc Shaiman (who co-wrote the music and lyrics for the acclaimed animated musical, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut) and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman.  Hairspray is directed by Jack O'Brien and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell; scenic design is by David Rockwell; costume design is by William Ivey Long; lighting design is by Kenneth Posner; and sound design is by Steve C. Kennedy.

Hairspray, which celebrated its fifth anniversary on Broadway in August 2007, is the winner of eight 2003 Tony Awards, including best musical, best actor (Harvey Fierstein), best actress (Marissa 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.

Hairspray is produced by Margo Lion; Adam Epstein; The Baruch×Viertel×Routh×Frankel Group; James D. Stern/Douglas L. Meyer; Rick Steiner/Frederic H. Mayerson; SEL & GFO; New Line Cinema, in association with Live Nation; A. Gordon/E. McAllister; D. Harris/M. Swinsky; J. & B. Osher.

Hairspray plays Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm; Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm; Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm; Sunday at 3pm, at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre, 250 West 52 Street.

For ticket information, phone Ticketmaster at 212-307-4100, or for group sales, phone 212-302-7000 or 800-677-1164.  Hairspray offers the ShowTrans system for foreign-speaking audience members in the following languages: French, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.  Same-day, lottery tickets are sold at the box office for seats in the first row of the orchestra.  For more information about Hairspray, please consult the Hairspray website at www.hairsprayonbroadway.com.

Photo courtesy of www.hairsprayonbroadway.com