John Waters News

Even before they hit the stage for Lipscomb University Theatre's production of Hairspray, it's pretty clear that cast members Nick Hogan, Tyler Ashley, Shelby Smith, Virginia Lodholtz and Day Day Wells truly are 'the nicest kids in town.' Bringing the hit musical to life for Nashville audiences, which will include a large contingent of alumni in town for homecoming (Hairspray runs November 3-6 in Collins Auditorium on the David Lipscomb University campus), the large ensemble of more than 40 actors are hard at work, sharpening their skills, running lines, rehearsing like it's nobody's business and immersing themselves in plenty of 1960s pop culture and nostalgia.

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.

It's time to let your hair down and dance the night away! The 1960's are coming back to Washington as the Broadway sensation Hairspray will begin performances at the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre on November 21st - just in time for the holidays. Directed by Signature's Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer, the production will star national radio host Robert Aubry Davis (WETA's 'Around Town' and Sirius/XM Radio), making his musical theater stage debut in the iconic role of Edna Turnblad. The impressive cast of DC favorites is headlined by Carolyn Cole (Tracy Turnblad), Nova Y. Payton (Motormouth Mable), Sherri L. Edelen (Velma Von Tussle), Patrick Thomas Cragin (Link Larkin), and Harry A. Winter (Wilbur Turnblad). Hairspray will play at Signature's MAX Theatre from November 21, 2011 through January 29, 2012. Tickets are now on sale.

With one of the most refreshingly unique career trajectories in recent show business history, the quirky late-80s/early-90s film star known for her outlandish John Waters comedies - HAIRSPRAY, CRY-BABY and SERIAL MOM included - parlayed her big screen success to a decade-long running eponymous talk-show in the 90s and early 00s that is still talked about to this day - look no further than Nicki Minaj's verse on the remix of Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me" for proof - and, now, with news of the 2012 syndicated return of a new iteration of her show, a new memoir, as well as her current compelling casting on the new season of DANCING WITH THE STARS, Ricki Lake has clearly reached a new career high. Imparting her contagious energy and enthusiasm and amply displaying why she is the foremost queen of gab, Lake generously shares her thoughts on a range of topics - Broadway, Hollywood, GLEE, Sondheim, BOOK OF MORMON and much more included - and reveals details about her many upcoming projects and passion, as well as her ongoing star turn on TV's hottest reality competition, DANCING WITH THE STARS. While in rehearsal on Friday night, talking to me from the backstage costume fitting for DANCING/STARS - tutu included - and on the road back to her LA home - before attending Chaz Bono's party later that evening - Lake and I cover it all and she shows why she has been a TV fixture in millions of homes for twenty years and most likely will continue to be so for the next twenty or more - if we are lucky, that is. Plus, she also happens to be a big BroadwayWorld fan, to boot! Who could ask for anything more?

How does a well-known San Francisco comic ('openly gay since 1987') tell the story of her parents' murder-suicide? In the only way she knows how: hilariously. 'I grew up in a funny family. And then my dad shot my mom. And then himself. He was a WWII vet, an Elk. She was a passive-aggressive poet. The 'greatest generation?' Nah. Love is deadly. You ever thought of killing your spouse? It could happen to you. I survived it. Mostly. And I'm a comic.'

Straight from San Francisco, The Thrillpeddlers present a concert version of their smash hit revival, VICE PALACE: The Last Cockettes Musical on Friday & Saturday, October 21 & 22 as part of the 2011 HOWL! Festival, at Theater 80.

San Francisco's acclaimed Thrillpeddlers present a concert version of their smash hit revival, VICE PALACE: THE LAST COCKETTES MUSICAL, on Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22 at 11:00PM, as part of HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2011 at Theatre 80 (80 St. Marks Place) in Manhattan.

Straight from San Francisco, The Thrillpeddlers present a concert version of their smash hit revival, VICE PALACE: The Last Cockettes Musical on Friday & Saturday, October 21 & 22 as part of the 2011 HOWL! Festival, at Theater 80.

According to Deadline.com, Broadway veteran Marissa Jaret Winokur will co-star on TV Land's new series, 'Retired At 35.' The show 'centers on successful New Yorker David (Johnathan McClain) who moves in with his father (George Segal) and mother (Jessica Walter) in a Florida retirement community.' Winokur star as David's 'sharp-tongued, quick-witted' sister.

So how does a New York-based actor/dancer/choreographer/producer/arts administrator - okay, let's just say it loud and clear right now: Justin Boccitto is a multi-hyphenate - find himself in Nashville, directing and choreographing a production of Hairspray at a Christian university with a theater program that's making a big splash locally, regionally and nationally?

San Francisco's acclaimed Thrillpeddlers present a concert version of their smash hit revival, VICE PALACE: THE LAST COCKETTES MUSICAL, on Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22 at 11:00PM, as part of HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2011 at Theatre 80 (80 St. Marks Place) in Manhattan.

Tonight DANCING WITH THE STARS took a trip back to the 80s with The Bangles, shoulder pads, and big hair dominating the episode. At this halfway point in the competiton, the pressure is on for the contestants to show that they've improved their moves. Who rose to the challenge? Find out now!

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.

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club has announced that the New York premiere of Now the Cats With Jewelled Claws by Tennessee Williams and directed by Jonathan Warman, will begin performances Thursday, October 27, at 10pm, at The Club at La MaMa, (74A E 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery).

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club has announced that the New York premiere of Now the Cats With Jewelled Claws by Tennessee Williams and directed by Jonathan Warman, will begin performances Thursday, October 27, at 10pm, at The Club at La MaMa, (74A E 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery).

It's time to let your hair down and dance the night away as Hairspray, Broadway's musical comedy phenomenon that inspired a major motion picture, opens at the Miracle Theatre on October 14.

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club has announced that the New York premiere of Now the Cats With Jewelled Claws by Tennessee Williams and directed by Jonathan Warman, will begin performances Thursday, October 27, at 10pm, at The Club at La MaMa, (74A E 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery).

It's time to let your hair down and dance the night away as Hairspray, Broadway's musical comedy phenomenon that inspired a major motion picture, opens at the Miracle Theatre on October 14.

Auditions for New Line Theatre's CRY-BABY, in its first production since Broadway, will be held on October 10, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. at the Washington University South Campus, 6501 Clayton Road (formerly CBC High School), just east of Big Bend, in the second floor theatre.