Other voices that have yet to let me down include Corey Reynolds, Mary Bond Davis, Kerry Butler and let’s not forget the Dynamites(Kamilah Martin, Judine Richard, Shayna Steele). All of these voices have a soul to them that really cannot be described. Jackie Hoffman, Clarke Thorell, and John Hill add a spark of humor that contrast yet compliment the serious message of the story. Linda Hart and Laura Bell Bundy play the mother-daughter blond baddies, the Von Tussles, whom the audience love to hate.

Now the show’s leading “lady,” Harvey Fierstein, has a voice that I would rather not hear at length. Fierstein convincingly portrays a housewife and the chemistry between him and onstage husband, Dick Latessa, is clear, yet I find myself just praying for the two-minutes-too-long song, “Timeless to Me,” to end.

As a whole, the cast pulls off the large dance numbers beautifully, most notably, “You Can‘t Stop the Beat,” the musical’s finale. The sets are imaginative and colorful- rivaling only the bright reds and pinks of the many costumes. And naturally, one only need note the title to realize elaborate wigs would be involved.

None of these reasons are why I love this show. What brings me to Hairspray? Who compels me to stop by the stage door even when I have not seen the show? Matthew Morrison. He currently portrays Link Larkin, the heartthrob and Tracy’s love interest. He has so much energy on stage and maintains a wide-eyed innocence throughout the show. I’m so happy to see him in a principle role; his songs, “It Takes Two” and “Without Love,” are the two highlights of the show for me.

I saw Morrison perform for the first time when he was playing a phantom in Rocky Horror at Circle in the Square Theatre. This role, while minor, required a more blatant form of sex appeal and confidence than Link Larkin. In all honesty, I attended Rocky Horror as many times as I did to see Sebastian Bach. I suppose you could call me a Broadway groupie. I find my show and stick with it until my reason for going is gone.

Back to Rocky Horror. At the beginning of each show Matthew would come out a side door and walk through the audience before hitting the stage. He would always pass by wheelchair seating in the very back of the theatre, and I would occasionally say “Hi Matt” but rarely anything more. I never took a picture with him and I never asked for his autograph. One night very close to the end of Rocky Horror’s run, Matt came all the way to the back of the theatre during “Time Warp” to sing to me. Now, it was normal for the cast to go into the audience during “Time Warp,” but to be sure they were back on their marks on time they rarely went more than seven rows back. I was so thrilled to finally be experiencing what I had been missing by not being able to sit front row. Having a man on his knees at my side, singing to me, I naturally reacted by running my fingers through his hair. I’ve been smitten ever since. I have also been kicking myself ever since, hoping he doesn’t remember.

The first night I attended Hairspray, he clearly remembered that he knew me. Quite tongue tied by this fact, I was unable to really speak that night. Luckily, it only took a few short conversations thereafter to get yapping and back to my sarcastic self. I had the pleasure, on a different night, to go backstage after the show to meet the cast. Their version of ‘backstage’ was literally the stage. Matthew, on this day, gave my friend and I a little tour. Somehow I managed the courage to ask him for an interview and he enthusiastically agreed. I had never asked someone for an interview in person before and had not expected him to say yes. He is not the most famous person I have interviewed; but in my eyes, the only person who could agree to an interview for which my excitement would rival is Sebastian Bach- and believe me that says a lot. Enjoy the interview below, and please, SEE HAIRSPRAY!

What’s your favorite musical?
My favorite musical...it used to be when I was growing up, Miss Saigon, but I don’t know, I don’t really like it anymore.
I’ve never seen it.
(Matt makes a face like I shouldn’t bother seeing it now) You know, my favorite musical is Assassins.
I never heard of it.
It’s never been on Broadway or anything. It was originally produced by Playwrights Horizons. It’s a Stephen [Sondheim] musical, it’s all about a bunch of assassins through history.

What’s your musical background? As in...what was your first play?
One summer I went to go visit my grandma, my aunt and cousin in Arizona. And they really didn’t want to deal with me and my cousins. So they threw us in this musical theater camp and we were there like all day so they could get us out of their hair. I totally loved it. So when I went back to California, where I’m from, I told my parents I wanted to go into theater. They’re both like from medical backgrounds, so yeah...

What is your ideal role?
My ideal role... I think I’m playing it right now. I always wanted to be like a heartthrob and originate a part on Broadway. But now, I guess, having done this I want to play a villain next.

Do you write your own music?
Not really anymore, I think I’ll get back to it a little bit, I’m starting to take guitar lessons again.

Tell us one thought or story about the following things:
NYU... I go to NYU.
Oh really? Uhhhhhm.
That doesn’t mean you have to speak nicely about it.
I won’t! (laughs) One thought or story about NYU... Alright. (devilish smile). My sophomore year, I was living with this guy Ed, who I still live with now. He’s one of those guys who we would have never been friends but the computer system put us together. We’re best friends now. And we lived down in Water Street. I don’t know if they still have it?
Mmhmm. They do.
Umm we were the first class there when they opened the dorms. We were on the 30th floor, amazing apartment. So we became friends with the guards and everything and developed this system of how to throw the ultimate party. And we...in our dorm room we had about 150 people in there and just rocked the place OUT. And the cops came and broke it up. And people went under the beds and in the closets. And then when the cops left, all the people came out and we started the party all over again and it was crazy. But to this day, I get...my roommate said that one of his friends is an R.A. there, and they have in their Water Street rulebook- that they describe our party and talk about how to prevent it. (laughs) And so we like rewrote the rulebook for RAs.
You made history!
Yeah, we did. So, I thought that was pretty cool. That’s my greatest memory at NYU, I hated the school. (chuckles)

Footloose.
My big break. You know...my first...my dream come true of being on Broadway.

So D.J. (his name in Fresh Step, a spoof boy band from the Late show), what are your thoughts on this lyric, “I know all your friends say I’m wrong for you, but I’m full of ...
(Matt joins in)
flavor just like beef stew”
(laughs) Well... My close friends to me, um they all call me Matty Fresh. And this is a reference to Fresh Step. And I’ve taken on the name Matty Fresh which is so funny I love it when people call me that. (laughs) The experience was just amazing. I mean, because that’s the thing that got me Footloose because AC choreographed both, and I just felt so cool because all the other guys in the band were already in Footloose and it was cool being part of something like that. And it was so much fun. We had a blast. It was just stupid.

Starmites or Dirty Dancing or both.
Starmites... It was cool because it was the first reading, and it was a big reading and I was the lead. So that was a cool thing for me to put myself out there in front of a lot of people. Dirty Dancing. Always wanted to learn how the Fox Trot and the Salsa, so that was cool choreography, and fun stuff. (laughs)

"Sex and the City"
Ummm... Sarah Jessica Parker. We had this whole scene together and they cut, I don’t know if you know this, but they cut a lot. We had two or three other lines. I don’t even remember what I said... “Will anyone be joining you?” or something like that...
I think it was, “Will you be needing anything else?”
Yeah. But it was cool. The thing I remember the most is if you watch it and I leave, ...this is funny(says under breath). There wasn’t really a door for me to go into--it was just a little cubby hole and if you look closely--if you look at a reflection on the glass you see me leave but you can still--I I had to stop right there--so you see my ass in the...
Ok I wasn’t looking that closely
I know I know. I don’t know if anyone else noticed that but me. But you see my ass in the window, it’s kind of cool.

Rocky Horror.
Rocky Horror. It was like the greatest thing and... not the worst thing in my life. It was great cause I originally got the part of Rocky and that was a huge thing for me, but then the stupid fucking boy band...[LMNT caused him to pass up the part of Rocky] ...but Rocky was my ticket. I kind of reevaluated myself after I left the band and I didn’t have to audition because they already heard me sing. They asked me if I wanted a part and I said yeah. It was good to get out of something so bad and go do something I love again. And to do a show like that where you don’t give a shit about anything and every night putting on stupid makeup and walk around in a dress, it was cool.