Jerry Mitchell to Direct Hairspray at the Hollywood Bowl This Summer

Jerry Mitchell will direct and choreograph the Hollywood Bowl's previously announced production of Hairspray, which runs August 5 through 7 in Los Angeles. Loyd Hoyt will serve as musical director. Casting and additional creative team will be announced at a later date.

Mitchell received a Tony nomination for choreographing Hairspray's original Broadway production. He won a Tony in 2005 for his choreography of La Cage aux Folles and has received additional Tony nominations for Legally Blonde, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Never Gonna Dance and The Full Monty. He made his Broadway directorial debut with Legally Blonde in 2007 and most recently choreographed Catch Me If You Can and served as a production supervisor on Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Adapted from the 1988 John Waters film, Hairspray follows plus-sized teenager Tracy Turnblad in 1960s Baltimore as she attempts to become a cast member of a popular local dance TV series. Turnblad soon finds herself leading a civil rights campaign to help integrate the show.

Featuring music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, the original Broadway production, starring Tony winners Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur, opened on August 15, 2002 and ran for 2,642 performances. The show took home eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It was made into a movie, starring John Travolta and Nikki Blonsky, in 2007.