Newark's Norman Pace returns to Nottingham Theatre Royal in cast of Hairspray

Newark's Norman Pace returns to his home county next week as part of the cast for the latest tour of the smash-hit musical Hairspray.

Norman, who attended Magnus School, plays Wilbur Turnblad in the musical, which is at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal from Monday to a week on Saturday.

The feel-good show is set in Baltimore in 1962, where Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, is on a mission to follow her dreams and dance her way on to national television.

Tracy’s audition makes her a local star and soon she is using her new-found fame to fight for equality, bagging local heartthrob Link Larkin along the way.

Katie Brace will make her professional stage debut as Tracy Turnblad with Richard Meek as Corny Collins, Rebecca Thornhill as Velma, and Ross Clifton as Link Larkin.

Musical theatre star and television presenter Brenda Edwards (Chicago, We Will Rock You, The X Factor, Loose Women and Songs of Praise) will star as Motormouth Maybelle and West End leading man Alex Bourne (Annie, Mamma Mia!, We Will Rock You) is Edna Turnblad.

Hairspray is based on the 1988 film of the same name, which starred Divine and Ricki Lake by cult filmmaker John Waters.

With music and lyrics by Academy Award, Tony and Emmy winning duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, Hairspray originally opened to rave reviews on Broadway in 2002 and subsequently won eight Tony Awards.

Following the musical’s phenomenal success on stage, a film of the musical was released in 2007 which starred John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer and Zac Efron.