update on Ashley Spencer

1956cookie · Member

update on Ashley Spencer

Ray · Senior Member

That's good news. Does anybody know what the role of Amber von Tussle is like? How big? Does she have a song?
Ashley had maximum tv exposure being in the Top 4, and the Broadway audiences will greet her as a star...a minor star, perhaps, since she doesn't carry The Winner! mystique.
Maybe something will come along for Austin, so that he can finally make his Broadway debut.

Gramps · Veteran Member

There are some Ytube clips of the role and some information on line too. Use the full role name as a search term: Amber Von Tussle.

Ashley should be a natural.

Gramps

-- Edited by Gramps at 18:17, 2007-07-09

ThatGirl · Veteran Member

Congrats Ashley! The Hairspray movie soundtrack is going to be released tomorrow and Amber sings one song-but she may sing more in the play. Here is a link to Amanda Snow's version of "the new girl in town," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZAQn3fLcwI. I think that Ashley will do a great job with it-it's the perfect song to showcase her voice.

iowa fan · Member

I certainly wish Ashley the very best and have missed seeing her. Congrats Ashley.
IOWA FAN

rizzo · Member

Amber is a supporting type role. She has one solo song (I think only one?), 'Cooties', and she's in a bunch of others. I'm not that familiar with all of Hairspray's songs so I might be a little off but I'm pretty sure. Plus, if they get someone who is well known they aren't going to give them a small role!

Paikea · Veteran Member

It's so nice to see other G:YTOTIW favorites in new roles! And what a coincidence that Ashley's Broadway debut is the same day as the first GREASE preview. She already has a listing up at IBDB, and here is the HAIRSPRAY page if anyone wants to access the song list.

LauraFan1 · Senior Member

Good for Ashley---I think she's great. She was nice enough to send me an autographed photo, and if you remember the TV show, her performance of "Take That Look Off Your Face" was wonderful!!! Ashley and Laura were my two favorite girls, I'm happy to know Ashley will also have a chance to be on Broadway! Take care, everyone aww

Mrs N · Senior Member

Just two weeks until Ashley's Broadway debut. She'll be performing as Amber until Oct. 28. And then what comes next? All best to her!

-- Edited by Mrs N at 17:29, 2007-07-10

loveiswhatido · Member

Ashley will be great in that role! I cannot wait!

ThatGirl · Veteran Member

Mrs. N (or anyone else who is in the know),

Any idea why Ashley is only in Hairspray until Oct? Is that normal? I think she will be great as Amber and I'm hoping I get the chance to see her.

Laura Mom · Senior Member

Congratulations to Ashley. I too wonder why someone would be cast for certain dates during the running of a show. Does anyone know for sure? My speculation is that the person who normally plays that character may have to (or chooses to) be away for some reason and Ashley could be filling in but that is a total guess. I had also heard at one time that Austin could be considering a return to Hairspray but I have heard nothing more about that either. Wouldn't it be fun to see both Ashley and Austin in the show?!

AZN Danny · Veteran Member

Well Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamliin are in Chicago for a limited engagement. Sometimes stints on Broadway don't last long for certain musicals.

Mrs N · Senior Member

The following article from The Plain Dealer ends with praise for Ashley as Amber.

Cleveland writer has a piece of "Hairspray" movie

Posted by Tony Brown July 10, 2007 16:22PM

By Tony Brown
Plain Dealer Theater Critic

When the film musical "Hairspray" opens Friday, May 20, across the nation, former Clevelander Mark O'Donnell will be in the credits, not under "written by" but "based on."

But plenty of the jokes are his.

O'Donnell, a comedy writer now living in New York, co-wrote the script of the 2002 Broadway musical (still running strong in New York) "Hairspray," which was in turn based on a 1988 John Waters flick, which has music but is not a musical.

O'Donnell and collaborator Tom Meehan ("Annie" and "The Producers," among others) wrote a first draft of the new musical screenplay. O'Donnell said in a brief interview last week that they expected not to wind up with a final writing credit.

"It's like that old New Yorker cartoon, where the man proposes by saying, 'Darling, will you be my first wife?'" O'Donnell said from his Riverside Drive apartment in Manhattan.

O'Donnell said that many of the movie's lines are his, lifted from the stage musical, including a warning to a young interracial couple in 1962 Baltimore: "Brace yourselves for a whole lot of ugly coming at you from a never-ending parade of stupid."

He also claimed, with evident pride, the epithet "plastic little spastic."

But O'Donnell also praised the work of credited screenwriter Leslie Dixon, especially a new twist she put on the ending. "She made excellent choices," O'Donnell said.

And, he said the entire film (directed by Adam Shankman and starring John Travolta as a plus-size woman) was a big hit at a screening for folks associated with the stage musical.

O'Donnell and Meehan have teamed up again to write the script for "Cry Baby," a rockabilly musical based on a 1990 John Waters film. It will open this fall at California's La Jolla Playhouse, and is expected to move to Broadway after Christmas.

Last March, O'Donnell made his Kennedy Center debut in Washington with the narration for a new piece of music by Daniel Kellogg, "Pyramus and Thisbe," based on the play-within-the-play in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Actor John Lithgow read O'Donnell's script at the premiere.

Finally, O'Donnell said he couldn't say enough good things about Massillon native Ashley Spencer, the runner-up on TV's "Grease: You're the One That I Want" who joins the Broadway "Hairspray" cast as stuck-up Amber Von Tussle on July 24.

"She's brilliant," O'Donnell said. "In her audition, she displayed a great sense of humor, She's going to be a great Amber."

-- Edited by Mrs N at 00:39, 2007-07-11

Mrs N · Senior Member

I looked at the official Hairspray site http://www.hairspraythemusical.com/hairspray_home.php
to see if there was a message board (such as this one for Grease on Broadway) that might include some information about Ashley and her limited contract. Unfortunately I found no helpful forum like this one.

Mrs N · Senior Member

Yesterday in Variety

Former N Sync band member Lance Bass and Grease: Youre the One that I Want runner-up Ashley Spencer will join the cast of Hairspray on Broadway this summer.

Bass follows in the Rialto footsteps of fellow NSyncer Joey Fatone, who appeared in Rent and Little Shop of Horrors. Bass will play TV dance show host Corny Collins in Hairspray Aug. 14-Jan. 6.

Spencer, who was Ballerina Sandy on the reality TV casting competish for the upcoming revival of Grease, will play mean girl Amber in Hairspray July 24-Oct. 28.

The Broadway production of Hairspray has received box office bumps from reality TV and tween-demo stars in the past, including from American Idol alum Diana DeGarmo. Show also is hoping for a boost in sales from the movie version that will be released this month.

Sounds like a win-win situation. Ashley gets her Broadway debut, and "Hairspray" gets a box office bump. How many G:YTOTIW fans who were already scheduled to be in NYC to catch Max & Laura will also get tickets for "Hairspray" to see Ashley?

-- Edited by Mrs N at 01:37, 2007-07-12

-- Edited by Mrs N at 01:44, 2007-07-12

Mrs N · Senior Member

Broadway.com is featuring "Hairspray" with a closer look at "the spunky council members on The Corny Collins Show. They have the coolest clothes, the hottest hairstyles and the best dance moves. In real life, most of Corny's council kids are making their Broadway debuts. We checked in with these fresh faces to get the scoop on being in the cast of this huge Broadway hit."

ASHLEY SPENCER
Age: 22
Character name: Amber Von Tussle
What date did you make your Broadway debut in Hairspray? July 24, 2007
What are three words that describe your character? Privileged little brat!
Which of your costume pieces makes you feel most in character? Even though I haven't officially started yet, so far the finale dress. It has a huge hoop skirt that makes me feel like a princess.
What's your favorite thing about being in Hairspray? Everybody has been really accepting and helpful. It's one big family. Definitely the most fun on Broadway because it's one big party all the time on stage.

Mrs N · Senior Member

Go to http://www.broadway.com/gen/General.aspx?ci=550678#pop to view Broadway.com's video feature of "Hairspray" on Broadway.

-- Edited by Mrs N at 02:49, 2007-07-21

-- Edited by Mrs N at 17:14, 2007-07-21

Gramps · Veteran Member

I can't get the URL to work. Exactly where does it end in the line it is typed.

Stan/gramps

The following article from The Plain Dealer ends with praise for Ashley as Amber.Cleveland writer has a piece of "Hairspray" movie

Posted by Tony Brown July 10, 2007 16:22PM

The following article from The Plain Dealer ends with praise for Ashley as Amber.

Cleveland writer has a piece of "Hairspray" movie