Scolari assumes the role while Tony Award-winner Dick Latessa takes a vacation. The former star of TV's "Bosom Buddies" tested the waters of the Wilbur role earlier this year when he jumped into a couple of performances, a spokesperson confirmed.*

In Hairspray, he'll play the novelty-goods salesman and inventor whose wife, Edna, played by Harvey Fierstein, and daughter, Tracy, played by Kathy Brier, get massive makeovers in 1960s Baltimore.

"(You're) Timeless to Me," a duet between husband and wife, has been singled out as a fresh return to the old fashioned romantic show tune a la "Just in Time" (performed in front of a show curtain, no less).

The score is by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, with direction by Jack O'Brien and choreography by Jerry Mitchell.

Latessa is expected back in Hairspray, at the Neil Simon Theatre, Nov. 4. Scolari's wife, Cathy Trien, is a couple blocks away, performing in the company of Gypsy at the Shubert Theatre.