Episode 76: 20 Years of HAIRSPRAY, part 2

My guests on Broadway Nation today are the Tony Award winning songwriting team of Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman who join me to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Hairspray – The Musical. That’s right! It was 20 years ago, during the summer of 2002, that Hairspray first received its World Premiere in June at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre (where at that time I had the great pleasure and privilege of serving as that theater’s Producing Artistic Director). Then, just three months later, the show became an instant hit when it debuted on Broadway on August 15th at the Neil Simon Theatre, where it would go on to run for 2,642 performances! In this episode Marc & Scott take us inside the creation of Hairspray, how it began, how it developed over four workshops, and how they collaborated with a team of outstanding theatermakers including bookwriters Mark O’Donnell & Tom Meehan, director Jack O’Brian, choreographer Jerry Mitchell, lead producer Margo Lion, and John Waters who wrote and directed the quirky film on which the musical is based. Our conversation is filled with great behind the scenes stories that include: Harvey Fierstein’s contributions to the script, how they “tortured” Marissa Jaret Winokur, the many songs they wrote for “Velma Von Tussle” (Linda Hart), the legendary night the Seattle Men’s Chorus attended the show, and how Mathew Morrison is a lot like Shirley MacLaine! In short, it was an absolute delight to reminisce with Scott & Marc about that eventful summer 20 years ago that changed all of our lives! The episode ends with the inside scoop about their upcoming show, Some Like It Hot, which will open on Broadway in December. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices