The New York Post reports that Fierstein will reprise his role as Edna Turnblad in the upcoming Las Vegas mounting of Hairspray. According to the New York daily, Fierstein will play a 12-week stint in the Vegas production beginning in February 2006.
The Associated Press reported in January that a 90-minute, intermissionless version of Hairspray would open in Vegas at the Luxor hotel-casino situated on the Las Vegas strip. The theatre at the Luxor is currently being renovated and will hold 1,550 people upon completion. Michael Gill and Myron Martin will produce the Las Vegas production.
Hairspray is just the latest in a series of hit Broadway musicals to be announced for Vegas theatres. After the successes of Chicago and Mamma Mia!, Las Vegas audiences will soon see productions of The Phantom of the Opera (at the Venetian in 2006), and the Tony-winning Avenue Q will open at Wynn Las Vegas next month.
Harvey Fierstein won two 1983 Tony Awards — Best Actor in a Play and Best Play — for his groundbreaking opus Torch Song Trilogy. He also won a Best Book of a Musical Tony in 1984 for Jerry Herman’s La Cage aux Folles, and a Best Actor in a Musical Tony for Hairspray. Fierstein’s other plays include Safe Sex, Spookhouse and Forget Him. His film credits include “Independence Day,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Bullets Over Broadway,” “The Times of Harvey Milk” and “Torch Song Trilogy.” He wrote and starred in HBO’s “Tidy Endings,” which brought him an ACE Award. Fierstein also published the children’s book “The Sissy Duckling" and can currently be seen onstage at the Minskoff Theatre in the revival of Fiddler on the Roof.
Hairspray, based on the 1988 John Waters film of the same name, currently plays Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre. The show won 2003 Tony Awards for Best Score (Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman), Best Book (Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell), Best Actress in a Musical (Marissa Jaret Winokur), Best Actor (Harvey Fierstein), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dick Latessa), Best Costume Design (William Ivey Long), Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical.
