Hairspray the Musical full UK and Ireland tour dates announced

Hairspray the Musical has announced its full UK and Ireland tour, which will run from August 2020 to May 2021.

With music and lyrics by the Academy Award-winning duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, this production will be directed by Paul Kerryson and have choreography by Drew McOnie. The full creative team and cast are still to be announced.

Hairspray the Musical is based on the 1988 film by John Waters and starred Divine and Ricki Lake. It tells the story of Tracy Turnblad, a Baltimore schoolgirl in 1962 who is determined to follow her dreams and perform on national TV.

The musical previously toured in 2015 to 2016 and again in 2017 to 2018. The new tour – which runs separately to the London revival – will open at Leicester Curve on 20 August and will then visit the Manchester Palace, Bradford Alhambra, Blackpool Winter Gardens, Aylesbury Waterside, Birmingham Hippodrome, Glasgow Kings Theatre, Northampton Royal and Derngate, Woking New Victoria, Liverpool Empire, Brighton Theatre Royal, Southampton Mayflower, Bristol Hippodrome, Edinburgh Playhouse, Inverness Eden Court, Ipswich Regent, Dublin Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Milton Keynes Theatre, Sunderland Empire, Sheffield Lyceum, Nottingham Theatre Royal, High Wycombe Swan, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Belfast Grand Opera House, Wolverhampton Grand, Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre, Norwich Theatre Royal, Leeds Grand and Southend Cliffs Pavilion, before finishing at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham in May 2021.

Hairspray the Musical originally opened on Broadway in 2002 and won eight Tony Awards. The London premiere opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 2007 and won seven WhatsOnStage Awards, including Best Actor (Michael Ball), Best Actress (Leanne Jones), Best Supporting Actress (Tracie Bennett), Best Supporting Actor (Ben James-Ellis) and Best New Musical.