Susan Anton Signs on For Hollywood Bowl's Hairspray

The upcoming Hollywood Bowl production of Hairspray has found its Miss Baltimore Crabs. Susan Anton will play the role of Velma Von Tussle when the show plays the Los Angeles venue from August 5 through 7.

Directed by Jerry Mitchell, the cast will also feature Marissa Jaret Winokur as Tracy Turnblad, Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad, Nick Jonas as Link Larkin, John Stamos as Corny Collins, Drew Carey as Wilbur Turnblad, Corbin Bleu as Seaweed, Diana DeGarmo as Penny Pingleton, Darlene Love as Motormouth Maybelle, Tara Marci as Amber and Mo Gaffney as Prudy Pingleton/The Matron/The Gym Teacher.

Anton's Broadway credits include The Will Rogers Follies and Hurlyburly. She has toured with All Shook Up, A Couple of White Chicks Sitting Around Talking and They're Playing Our Song. Anton also appeared for several seasons in The Great Radio City Music Hall Spectacular. She received a Golden Globe nomination for the film Goldengirl.

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. Tracy 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 Fierstein and 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.