Marcus Collins has revealed that his upcoming Hairspray role is a "dream". The former X Factor runner-up will make his musical theatre debut as Patterson Park High student Seaweed Stubbs, son of DJ Motormouth Maybelle and love interest of Penny Pingleton, on the show's forthcoming UK and Ireland tour. "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!" said the Liverpudlian singer. Mark Benton is to portray larger-than-life Edna Turnblad, while former EastEnder Lucy Benjamin is scheming TV executive Velma Von Tussle. Acting newcomer Freya Sutton is to play big-hearted and big-haired teen heroine Tracy Turnblad. Marcus, who released his self-titled debut album last March, added: "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." He has admitted he would "love" to appear on the West End stage. "I would absolutely love to do the West End. I trained in musical theatre and I think it's fantastic. I really enjoy it," he previously said. "My ideal role would be Fiyero in Wicked because I just love it. I've seen it twice and it's just so cool." Hairspray opens at Manchester's Lowry Theatre in February 2012, before heading to Hull, Sunderland and Southampton among other dates. See www.hairspraythetour.com for details.
