Cast

Plays: That’s It, Folks!; Fables for Friends; The Nice and the Nasty (all produced at Playwrights Horizons), and Strangers on Earth and Vertigo Park (both produced by Zena Group Theatre). He wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Tots in Tinseltown. Mr. O’Donnell collaborated with Bill Irwin on an adaptation of Moliere’s Scapin, and he co-authored a translation of Feydeau’s A Flea in Her Ear, both for the Roundabout. For Manhattan Theatre Club, he translated Jean Claude Carriere’s La Terrasse. He has published two collections of comic stories Elementary Education and Vertigo Park and Other Tall Tales (both Knopf), as well as two recent novels, Getting Over Homer and Let Nothing You Dismay (both now in Vintage paperback). His humor, cartoons, and poetry have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Spy, The New Republic, and Esquire, among many others. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lecomte du Nuoy Prize, and the George S. Kaufman Award.

Thomas won the 2003 Tony Award for co-writing the book for Hairspray, after having won the 2001 Tony Award for co-writing the book of The Producers. In 1977, he received his first Tony Award for writing the book of Annie, which was his first Broadway show, and he has since written the books for the musicals I Remember Mama, Ain’t Broadway Grand, Annie Warbucks, Bombay Dreams, and Cry-Baby. In addition, he is a long-time contributor of humor pieces, including “Yma Dream” to The New Yorker, an Emmy Award-winning writer of television comedy, and a collaborator on a number of screenplays, including Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs, To Be or Not to Be, and the film version of The Producers. He is also the co-author for the libretto of 1984, an opera composed by Lorin Maazel and based on George Orwell’s classic novel of the same name, which had its world premiere in the spring of 2003 at London’s Royal Opera House and was performed at La Scala in Milan. Mr. Meehan is a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild. 

Marc is a composer/lyricist/arranger/performer working in films, television, musical theater, and recordings. He has won several honors, including a Tony, an Emmy, a Grammy, plus seven Oscar nominations. Film: Mary Poppins Returns (Two Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Grammy noms.), Sleepless in Seattle, Patch Adams, The First Wives Club, The American President, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (all Oscar noms.), Beaches, When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers, The Addams Family, Sister Act, A Few Good Men, Hocus Pocus, The Bucket List, Hairspray, and The Star (Golden Globe nom. with Mariah Carey). Broadway (with co-lyricist Scott Wittman): Hairspray (Tony and Grammy), Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Catch Me If You Can (Tony nom.), Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and a new musical version of Some Like It Hot, coming to Broadway in 2022. TV: Saturday Night Live (Emmy and Golden Globe noms.), Smash (Emmy and Golden Globe noms.), The Oscars with Billy Crystal (Emmy), The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (with final guest Bette Midler), and countless appearances with Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Lane, Jennifer Hudson, 

WHO’S WHO IN THE CAST

Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award winning lyricist, director, writer, and conceiver Scott Wittman co-wrote the lyrics for the hit musical Hairspray (Tony, Grammy, Olivier Award) with creative partner Marc Shaiman. Wittman served as an executive producer on the hit film starring John Travolta. Nominated for a Golden Globe, Grammy, and two Emmy Awards for the original songs on NBC’s musical drama Smash. Shaiman and Wittman’s original score for the Marilyn Monroe musical Bombshell was released by Sony Records. Scott and Marc’s Broadway writing credits include Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, which Scott also directed, Catch Me If You Can (Tony nom. for Best Musical), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Broadway and the West End. Scott has created and directed concerts for Patti LuPone. He has created solo shows for Christine Ebersole and Nathan Lane, as well as writing for Bette Midler’s 2015 Divine Intervention World Tour. Off-Broadway, he conceived and directed Jukebox Jackie starring Justin Vivian Bond at La Mama, and Bridget Everett’s Rockbottom at the Public Theatre. His notorious and legendary Downtown shows are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Marc and Scott also wrote the score to Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Meryl Streep. The song “The Place Where Lost Things Go” was nominated for an Oscar.

Jack has won three Tony Awards for his direction of Hairspray, Henry IV, and The Coast of Utopia. His other recent Broadway credits include Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, Carousel, The Front Page, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, It’s Only a Play, Macbeth, The Nance, Dead Accounts, Catch Me If You Can, Impressionism, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nom.), Imaginary Friends, The Invention of Love (Tony nomination and Drama Desk winner), The Full Monty (Tony nom.), More to Love, Getting Away with Murder, The Little Foxes, Damn Yankees, Two Shakespearean Actors (Tony nom.) and Porgy and Bess (Tony nom.).Off-Broadway credits include Tom Stoppard’s The Hard Problem, Pride’s Crossing, and Hapgood (Lucille Lortel Award). Other productions include Il Trittico at the Metropolitan Opera, Guys and Dolls at Carnegie Hall, Much Ado About Nothing for The Public’s Shakespeare in the Park, Love Never Dies and Hairspray (Olivier nom.) in London, which saw a revival at the Coliseum in London this summer. Mr. O’Brien was the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre from 1981 till 2007. He has directed six programs for PBS’s American Playhouse. His book, Jack Be Nimble, is published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux and his next volume, Jack in the Box, or How to Goddamn Direct, will also be published by FSG next season.

Jerry received the Tony Award for Best Choreography twice—for the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Kinky Boots (also Tony nom. for Best Director), and the revival of La Cage aux Folles. Most recent Broadway: Pretty Woman (Director/Choreographer), now playing on the West End. He directed the Gloria Estefan musical On Your Feet! (also international tour, London’s Coliseum Theatre), and was nominated for an Olivier Award for his choreography in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which he also directed and co-produced in London. In the 35 preceding years, Jerry has been involved with more than 50 Broadway, West End, and touring productions, starting as a dancer for Agnes de Mille in Brigadoon and thereafter assisting Michael Bennett and Jerome Robbins. His Broadway debut as Choreographer, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, was followed by The Full Monty (Tony nom.), The Rocky Horror Show, Hairspray (Tony nom., NBC Live), Gypsy, Never Gonna Dance (Tony nom.), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nom.), La Cage aux Folles, Imaginary Friends, Legally Blonde (Tony nom., which he also directed on Broadway and in London), Catch Me If You Can, and Kinky Boots. He is currently developing a new musical, Becoming Nancy. He also choreographed the Off-Broadway productions and films of Hedwig & The Angry Inch and Jeffrey. Thirty or so years ago, Jerry conceived and created Broadway Bares, a comedy burlesque show performed annually for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, for which he continues to serve as Executive Producer, as well as inspiring West End Bares, which celebrated its 10th year raising money, and the AIDS awareness benefit for the Terrance Higgins Trust.

Broadway: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can, The Velocity of Autumn (Associate Director on original productions), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Resident Director). Off-Broadway: Pageant: The Musical (Drama Desk nom.), The Irish Curse, Idaho! The Comedy Musical, The Great Daisy Theory, Fingers and Toes, and Alan Ball’s Tense Guy. National Tours: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Sound of Music, A Christmas Story: The Musical, Cheers: Live on Stage, Catch Me If You Can, The Who’s Tommy, and Hairspray. International: Charlie in Australia and productions of Hairspray in South Africa, the UK, Toronto, and Germany. Regional: Grumpy Old Men at LaMirada Theatre, Importance of Being Earnest at Cape Playhouse and Venus in Fur at Forestburgh Playhouse. Numerous plays and musicals at Paper Mill Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, the MUNY, Ogunquit Playhouse, Cape Playhouse, North Carolina Theatre, Maltz Jupiter Theater, Zach Theatre, Gulfshore Playhouse, Casa Manana. Member SDC. www.mattlenzdirector.com

Michele was the original associate choreographer of Hairspray on Broadway, as well as in Germany, Las Vegas, Toronto, and the first national tour. Broadway: Everyday Rapture, The Coast of Utopia. Film: The Last Five Years, Joyful Noise, Camp. Off-Broadway: Little Miss Sunshine, We the People. National Tour: Happy Days, Little House on the Prairie, Dirty Dancing. Hollywood Bowl: Sondheim on Sondheim. World Tour: Dolly Parton’s Better Day Tour. Michele is the recipient of the Helen Hayes Award for Best Choreography for Kiss Me, Kate at Shakespeare Theatre in DC.

Broadway: Tootsie; Kiss Me, Kate; She Loves Me (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards); On the Twentieth Century (Tony nom.); You Can’t Take It with You (Tony nom.); Kinky Boots (Tony nom.); Lucky Guy (Tony nom.); Hairspray (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle noms.). Off-Broadway: The Seven Deadly Sins, Soundtrack of America, and the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. Film/TV: Team America and the 81st, 82nd, and 93rd Oscars (2010 and 2021 Emmy Awards). Founder and President of Rockwell Group, an architecture and design firm based in New York with satellite offices in Los Angeles and Madrid. He is the author of four books on architecture and design, including Drama (Phaidon 2021). Honors: AIANY President’s Award, Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, Presidential Design Award.

Credits: The Producers, Seussical, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Music Man, Contact; Swing!, Epic Proportions, The Civil War, Annie Get Your Gun, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Cabaret, Chicago (New York, London, Melbourne, Vienna, Stockholm, Amsterdam), Steel Pier, 1776, Smokey Joe’s Cafe (New York, London, Las Vegas, tours), Crazy For You (Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Dora awards), London, Toronto (Dora Award), Tokyo; Guys and Dolls (Drama Desk Award); Madison Square Garden’s annual A Christmas Carol; Six Degrees of Separation; Assassins (1991 Obie Award for outstanding achievement); Lend Me a Tenor (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle awards); Nine (Tony, Drama Desk, Maharam awards); Robert Wilson’s Hamletmachine; Leonard Bernstein’s A Quiet Place and Trouble in Tahiti (Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Houston Grand Opera, Kennedy Center); The Lost Colony; Mick Jagger for the Rolling Stones’ Steel Wheels tour; Siegfried and Roy at the Mirage Hotel; Paul Taylor; Twyla Tharp; Peter Martins; David Parsons; Susan Stroman.

Broadway: Ruben & Clay’s Christmas Show, Amazing Grace, The Illusionists, Legally Blonde, Freshly Squeezed, Laughing Room Only. National Tours: The Illusionists, Elf the Musical, The Producers, Hairspray, Nunsense. Many commercial Off-Broadway productions and City Center Encores! Regional: The Old Globe, Stratford Shakespeare Festival (Ontario), DC Shakespeare, Chicago Shakespeare, Idaho Shakespeare, Great Lakes Theatre Co, Asolo Rep, American Conservatory Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, The Goodspeed Opera House, Pittsburgh CLO, and Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre, among others. Ballet: The New Jersey Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet. Television: Live from Lincoln Center, Netflix, Showtime, Comedy Central. International: Productions in São Paulo, Toronto, London, Vienna, Milan (Teatro alla Scala), Manila, Johannesburg, Beijing, Slovenia, Canada, and Mexico. Paul has been the Lighting Director for the internationally televised New Year’s Eve Celebration from New York’s Times Square for the last 20 years. He is originally from Chicago and trained at The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Kenneth designs extensively Off-Broadway, for resident theatres and touring productions throughout the United States, as well as internationally. He began his design career in the early 1990s s the lighting designer for the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA. Selected Broadway credits include Beetlejuice, Pretty Woman, Mean Girls, War Paint, Tuck Everlasting, Disgraced, On Your Feet, If/Then, Kinky Boots, Pippin, Cinderella, Hairspray, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Legally Blonde, Catch Me If You Can, The Coast of Utopia: Shipwreck, Other Desert Cities, The Merchant Of Venice, The Little Foxes, The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, Finding Neverland, and Wicked.

Shannon has designed many national tours including Shrek; Once on this Island; The Producers; Kiss Me, Kate; Noise/Funk; The Full Monty; Contact; A Chorus Line; Tap Dogs; Sweeney Todd; The Wizard of Oz; The Drowsy Chaperone; and The Wedding Singer. He was production sound for The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and national tour, and advance sound for Wicked. Shows he has mixed on Broadway include Springsteen on Broadway, Man of La Mancha, Bombay Dreams, A Christmas Carol, Sweet Charity, Jersey Boys, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Drowsy Chaperone, Spring Awakening, Fela!, Anything Goes, Annie, Legally Blonde, and Cabaret.

National Tour: Mean Girls (Animator). New York: Lincoln Center: Where Words Once Were; White Plains Performing Arts Center: The Bodyguard: The Musical; R. Evolución Latina: The Tempest. Regional: The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts: Earthrise, Voyagers, Digging Up Dessa, Where Words Once Were; Shakespeare Theatre Company: Hamlet, Twelfth Night; Flatrock Playhouse: South Pacific; Peppercorn Theatre: Desvelado; Croswell Opera House: Beauty and the Beast, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; Ohana Arts: Peace On Your Wings. Gala Hispanic Theatre: Fame: The Musical; Synetic Theatre: The Phantom of the Opera; Arts Centric: Dreamgirls, The Wiz; Forum Theatre: Love and Information, Building the Wall, Blackberry Winter; Theatre Alliance: Mnemonic (Helen Hayes Award Nomination); Keegan Theatre: Bridges of Madison County, Big Fish, American Idiot; Arts on the Horizon: Outside the Lines; 1st Stage: Columbinus; Mosaic Theatre Company of DC: A Human Being Died That Night; Adventure Theatre: Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical, Jumanji, Riverside Performing Arts Center: The Color Purple. MFA, The University of Texas at Austin. www.patrickwlord.com

London born Paul Huntley is a special Tony Award Winner as well as a Drama Desk recipient. Paul has worked on hundreds of Broadway projects since arriving in this country in 1972. His projects have included Cats; Amadeus; Kiss Me, Kate; The Producers and Hairspray. He has also worked with some of the most talented leading ladies of the American Cinema. They include Bette Davis, Vivien Leigh, Mae West, Glenn Close, Angela Lansbury and Jessica Lange. Movies are Christopher Plummer in “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” and Willem Dafoe in “Cirque Du Freak.” 

Broadway: Evita, La Cage Aux Folles, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Frost/Nixon. London: Hairspray, Merrily We Roll Along, The Hot House, Privates on Parade, La Cage Aux Folles, Legally Blonde, Passion, End of the Rainbow, Piaf, Sweet Charity, Evita, Frost/Nixon, Guys and Dolls, The Producers, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Kiss Me, Kate. Nationwide: White Christmas, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, We Will Rock You, Little Britain Live, Hairspray. 

From the time he conducted the B’way musical Promises, Promises to the year Dreamgirls won six Tony Awards, Harold Wheeler has been in the front ranks of entertainment as a conductor, composer, arranger and performer. Additional theatre credits as orchestrator and music supervisor include CoCo, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Wiz, Little Me (Tony nom.), A Chorus Line, The Tap Dance Kid, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, Fame, The Life (Tony nom.), Side Show, Swing! (Tony nom.), The Full Monty. He acted as Musical Director for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and composed the score for the film Love! Valour! Compassion! He is married to actress/singer Hattie Winston.

Broadway Music Director/Conductor: Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, Escape to Margaritaville, On Your Feet, Catch Me If You Can, Rock of Ages, Hair, Hairspray, The Rocky Horror Show, Footloose, Street Corner Symphony. Off-Broadway: Song of Singapore, Forever Plaid. Regional: Last Days of Summer, My Very Own British Invasion, Diner (Sheryl Crow), Some Lovers (Burt Bacharach), The Nightingale (Sheik/Sater). Music Supervisor: On Your Feet (Holland), Hairspray (NBC Live, National Tours, Toronto, Las Vegas, London, Johannesburg, Cologne, Hollywood Bowl), Hair (Hollywood Bowl), Lennon. Film: Annie, Hairspray, Joyful Noise, Band Slam, Boys on the Side. Actor: Tommy, Baby, Leader of the Pack, Starlight Express, Rock ’N Roll! The First 5000 Years. Love to the 3Ls.

John has conducted national tours including State Fair starring John Davidson, Victor Victoria starring Toni Tennille, and Cinderella starring Eartha Kitt and Deborah Gibson. Additionally, Mr. Mezzio was Associate Conductor for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express at the Las Vegas Hilton. National Tours: Oklahoma!, The Producers, Spring Awakening, Memphis, Beauty and the Beast, and Elf the Musical.

Patrick is a composer and musical director based in the Hudson Valley. National Tour: Elf the Musical, Finding Neverland, The SpongeBob Musical. Regional: Anything Goes, Beauty and the Beast, Man of La Mancha, Tim and Scrooge, Fun Home, Spamalot, The Pirates of Penzance, Nunsense, Les Misérables, The Sound of Music, The Secret Garden, Rent, Footloose, Hairspray. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, with a dual Bachelor of Music in composition and film scoring.

Duncan Stewart CSA and Benton Whitley CSA. Broadway/NY: Hadestown (Artios Award), Chicago, Rock of Ages, The Lightning Thief, …the Great Comet of 1812, Elf the Musical, On the Town, Pippin, La Cage aux Folles, Radio City Christmas Spectacular. TV/Film: Netflix, 20th Century Fox, NBC, Lionsgate, Disney Channel. West End/UK: Hadestown, Thriller Live, Menier Chocolate Factory. Tours: Hadestown, Hairspray, Waitress, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland, Into the Woods, We Will Rock You. Regional: ART, Berkeley Rep, Alley, Bay Street, For the Record, TUTS, Hollywood Bowl, McCarter, Signature, RCCL. @stewartwhitley, www.stewartwhitley.com

Kayla began her professional career with Valencia Dance Theatre in Orlando, FL in 2013. Recent credits include Anastasia (National tour; ASM/ACM). She has also recently worked with the Renaissance Theatre Company (PSM), Virgin Voyages (PSM), and Walt Disney World Parks & Live Entertainment (SM). Endless love and thanks to her Mom, Dad and “Framily.”

Ashton Pickering is a New York-based Stage Manager & Production Manager. National Tour: Anastasia. Off-Broadway: Stew (Page 73), Scarlet Pimpernel (Lincoln Center), Passage (Soho Rep). Regional: Row, Fall Springs, Gertrude and Claudius, and America V 2.1. TV: Law and Order: Organized Crime, Gossip Girl, and The Equalizer. BA Stage Management from Pace University. Love to my Family, The Collective, and G. @as.hton

National Tours: The Band’s Visit, Miss Saigon, Hairspray, Waitress, Gentleman’s Guide, Cinderella, Elf. International Tours: Beauty & The Beast, Shrek. Broadway: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. Love to Mom, Dad, Sydney, & Hops Alexis.

Gentry & Associates has managed more than 100 touring theatrical productions globally over the past 25 years. Current and upcoming productions include 1776, Anastasia, The Band’s Visit, Blue Man Group, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fiddler on the Roof, Hairspray, Les Misérables, The Prom, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Waitress.

Broadway Booking Office NYC marketing and press company representing award-winning musicals and plays. Currently: Jersey Boys, Les Misérables, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Hairspray, To Kill a Mockingbird, Potted Potter, and the new Broadway-bound musicals Dance! Dance! Dance! and Little Dancer. bbonyc.com

The Booking Group has represented 26 Tony Award® winning Best Musicals and Plays. Current touring productions: Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Come From Away, The Book of Mormon, To Kill a Mockingbird, Mean Girls, My Fair Lady, Pretty Woman, Tootsie, Anastasia, Chicago, Escape to Margaritaville, Fiddler on the Roof, Freestyle Love Supreme, Hairspray, Rent: 25th Anniversary Farwell Tour, The Play That Goes Wrong, and Waitress. Future productions: 1776, MJ, Six, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, and West Side Story.

TRINITY WHEELER (Executive Producer). Broadway: Les Misérables (Production Stage Manager). National Tours: Executive Producer credits include Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, Finding Neverland, Once On This Island, The SpongeBob Musical, Chicago, Dirty Dancing, Bullets Over Broadway, Elf the Musical, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, The Phantom of the Opera (Supervisory Production Stage Manager), Les Misérables (Production Stage Manager), Mary Poppins (Production Stage Manager); Young Frankenstein starring Roger Bart and Rent starring Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp. Trinity currently works on the national tours of Les Misérables, Hairspray, Waitress and the upcoming Diane Paulus and Jeffrey Page-helmed 1776. He is the host of Rhapsody Radio available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. @trinityonbroadway

NETworks is an industry-leading producer of touring theatrical productions, committed to delivering quality entertainment to audiences worldwide for more than 25 years. Current and upcoming productions include 1776, Anastasia, The Band’s Visit, Blue Man Group, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fiddler on the Roof, Hairspray, Les Misérables, The Prom, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Waitress. www.networkstours.com