John Thomson to join tour of Hairspray over Christmas

It has just been announced  that television and comedy star John Thomson (Cold Feet, The Fast Show) will join the UK tour of Hairspray as Wilbur Turnblad this Christmas for three weeks at Blackpool Winter Gardens (13 December – 2 January).

In his first ever musical theatre stage role, John will be joining musician, actress and television presenter Brenda Edwards (Chicago, We Will Rock You, The X Factor, Loose Women and Songs of Praise) who has starred as Motormouth Maybelle since the tour opened in Jun 2021 as well as previous runs of the tour. West End leading man Alex Bourne (Annie, Mamma Mia!, We Will Rock You) will continue in the role of Edna Turnblad.

Katie Brace makes her professional stage debut as Tracy Turnblad with Akeem Ellis-Hyman as Seaweed, Rebecca Thornhill as Velma, Richard Meek as Corny Collins, Ross Clifton as Link Larkin, Jessica Croll as Amber Von Tussle, Rebecca Jane Davies as Penny Pingleton and Charlotte St. Croix as Little Inez.

The full cast includes: Elizabeth Armstrong, Bernadette Bangura, Natalia Brown, Shaquille Brush, Liam Dean, Andrew Dillion, Amandla Elynah, Zoe Heighton, Ceris Hine, Paul Hutton, Jamie Jonathan, Hayley Johnston, Joshua Nkemdilim, Rosie O’Hare, Alexanda O’Reilly, Joshua Pearson, Joseph Poulton and Elliotte Williams-N’Dure.