X Factor‘s Marcus Collins joins touring cast of Hairspray

The tour kicks off at Manchester’s Lowry Theatre in February 2013.

Collins, who was runner-up in the 2011 series, said: “I can’t express how thrilled I am to be
joining the tour of Hairspray. It’s been a pretty amazing year for me
and now to be cast in my dream role feels like a great new part of the
adventure.

“Having trained in musical theatre since my early teens I’m
just itching to get into rehearsals now and so excited to be working
with Mark, Lucy and the rest of the company. Roll on February.”

Marcus Collins will play Seaweed Stubbs, one of the coolest kids at
Patterson Park High, son of DJ Motormouth Maybelle and love interest of
Penny Pingleton.

The cast also includes: Gemma Sutton, Lauren Hood, Sandra Marvin,
Gabriella Brooks, Josh Piterman, Daniel Stockton, Wendy Sommerville,
Jocasta Almgill, Sophia Brown, Lori Barker, Andrew Bryant, David Ribi,
Lewis Kirk, Piers Bate, Amelia Adams-Pearce, Francesca Hoffman, Samantha
Hull, Fela Lufadeju, Noel Samuels, Claudia Kariuki, Simone
Mistry-Palmer, Arun Blair-Mangat, Sam Lathwood, Laura Thorogood, Nikki
Pocklington and Mark Hilton.

As well as Manchester (where it opens on 13 February), Hairpsray will also visit cities including Liverpool, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Nottingham, Bristol, Leeds and Belfast.