John Waters News

Chicago's Harris Theater for Music and Dance has announced its 2010-2011 season. Alan Cumming, John Waters and Laurie Anderson are among the familiar faces that will be taking the stage this year.

A decade of cabaret and there's more to come as the Adelaide Festival Centre and Artistic Director for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, David Campbell, announce the 2010 Adelaide Cabaret Festival program, 11 - 26 June, proudly supported by Principal Partner FOXTEL.

The 1960's were certainly a turbulent turning point in American history, a decade of social upheaval that has shaped the nation so significantly, that it's hard to fathom that it was just a little under 50 years ago when such openly disagreeable behavior was the norm. While some may argue that tensions between races still exist, the fact that a modern audience can look back at these past events with a knowing sensibility (and be able to laugh about it all, to boot) is an encouraging, wonderful thing. HAIRSPRAY, the high-energy, laugh-a-minute musical now back on stage at The Orange County Performing Arts Center (thru April 11) shines a light on race relations during the early part of this volatile decade with a wonderfully delicious storyline, sprinkled with campy fun, an infectious score and a sensational cast that is beaming with joy.

The Derby Dinner Playhouse will present HAIRPSRAY from April 6 through May 23, 2010.

Along with previously announced Michael Ball, also starring in the U.K. Tour of Hairspray will be Laurie Scarth, Liam Doyle, and Danny Bayne. The tour begins at the Cardriff Millenium Centre and will begin March 30th, immediately following its West End closing. The tour is scheduled to run through January 2011 with stops in Glasgow, Southampton, Wolverhampton, Leeds, Manchester, Plymouth, Liverpool, Sunderland, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Birmingham, Bradford and Edinburgh. For a full schedule or to purchase tickets, visit http://www.hairspraythemusical.co.uk.

Whatsonstage.com is reporting that the producers of the West End production of Hairspray have posted a show closing notice for March 28, 2010. The closing will proceed Hairspray's National Tour, which launches on March 30, 2010.

Thrillpeddlers will present a production of a revival of the 1972 Cockettes musical extravaganza Hot Greeks, an original musical by Martin Worman and Richard 'Scrumbly' Koldewyn. This show is part of our 3rd annual Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival, which will play in repertory with performances of the long-running hit musical Pears Over Shanghai. Originally produced as a Nocturnal Dream Show and performed at midnight at the Palace Theatre in Chinatown in San Francisco, Hot Greeks was the fabled & fabulous Cockettes' only other scripted book musical besides Pearls Over Shanghai. Hot Greeks is directed by Russell Blackwood, and original Cockette and composer Richard 'Scrumbly' Koldewyn serves as Musical Director. The cast includes SF favorite Connie Champagne, and Thrillpeddlers stalwarts Birdie-Bob Watt, and the ever luminescent Michael Soldier as Lysistrata.

The hit films Sunset Boulevard and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? have so much in common. They are both set in humongous decaying Hollywood mansions inhabited by faded movie stars. Mad About the Boy Productions has very entertainingly connected the two scripts for an onstage parody @ the Macha Theatre - and has succeeded quite well in satisfying our appetite for bizarre camp.

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Artistic Director, Mark W. Jones-Executive Director) is proud to announce the 2010-2011 season, the first time in 15 years the theater will produce an entire season of musicals.

2010 Adelaide Cabaret Festival hit with Festival Fever! Adelaide has been in Festival mode over the past couple of weeks, with the Festival and Fringe the talk of the town and it's not over yet! No sooner has the last ticket stub been thrown away than audiences are looking to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival to spend their hard earned cash and have a great night out with friends.

The Wooster Group will present its first benefit artauction on the occasion of its 35 th Anniversary. Dubbed 'The Wooster (Support)Group', the event will feature live and silent auctions of contemporary art.

Arkansas Repertory Theatre (The Rep), the state's largest professional nonprofit theatre, is proud to announce its 35th MainStage Season. Musicals, comedies, timeless classics and social dramas combine to form a season that exemplifies The Rep's mission of producing diverse work of the highest artistic standards for its Arkansas audience.

The Wooster Group will present its first benefit artauction on the occasion of its 35 th Anniversary. Dubbed 'The Wooster (Support)Group', the event will feature live and silent auctions of contemporary art.

SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE is thrilled to announce the 2010 -2011 Season, an exciting lineup of multicultural works that exemplify the REP's mission to produce intimate, exotic, provocative theatre.

Get your wig caps and stilettos on for The Annoyance Theatre's debut Drag Queen Dramedy Glitter in the Gutter.

The Derby Dinner Playhouse will present HAIRPSRAY from April 6 through May 23, 2010.

HAIRSPRAY is set to hit Atlanta from July 23rd until August 8th at the Lyric Theatre. Winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Direction and Best Male and Female Lead to name a few, it's 'Hairspray!' The year is 1962 and Baltimore's Tracy Turnblad is going to do whatever it takes to dance her way onto TV's most popular show. Can a big girl with big dreams-and even bigger hair-turn the whole town around and still have time to win the boy she loves? Don't miss this dancing, romancing musical-comedy treat based on John Waters' 1988 film classic, with a book by Mark O'Donnell and two-time Tony Award-winner Thomas Meehan and a brand-new score by five-time Oscar-nominee Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE is thrilled to announce a partnership with the SAN DIEGO SCHOOL OF CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS to present Southern California's first regional production of the hit musical comedy HAIRSPRAY.

Coffee. Hot chocolate. Cozy fireplaces. Hot buttered rum. Snuggies. All of these are excellent ways to warm oneself on a cold and snowy New York day. Another very effective manner to beat the winter chills is to receive a phone call from Harriet Harris, the Tony Award winning actress who starred in such Broadway shows as OLD ACQUAINTANCE, THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, CRY-BABY and THOUROUGHLY MODERN MILLE, for which she received her coveted Tony. Currently co-starring with Victor Garber and Brooks Ashmanskas in the Roundabout Theatre's production of Noel Coward's comedy PRESENT LAUGHTER, Miss Harris took time out between matinee and evening performances for a conversation in the midst of a severe snowstorm. She was an excellent conversationalist and displayed great perception about theatre, human behavior and the production she is currently appearing in. Additionally, there's a warmth to her voice that made it easy to forget the inclement weather outside the window.

It's the perfect Valentine piled bouffant-high with laughter and romance. It's HAIRSPRAY, Broadway's musical comedy phenomenon that inspired a major motion picture, coming live on stage to the DuPont Theatre one weekend only Friday, February 19 through Sunday, February 21.