Congratulations to Hairspray's Candice Marie Woods!

[willact4food]

Posted: 7/22/07 at 7:42pm

Candice Woods (Dynamite) will be leaving Hairspray on August 12th to begin rehearsals for Bette Midler's new Las Vegas show! She will be singing back-up for Midler.

Congratulations Candice!!

[SNLMedia]

Posted: 7/22/07 at 8:23pm

Congrats to Candice! It feels like she's been in Hairspray forever. She and her fabulous voice will be missed!

[willact4food]

Posted: 7/22/07 at 8:36pm

She has been in Hairspray since April of 2005, so yes, it's been a while! The last riff in '60's' just won't be the same without her =)

[willact4food]

Posted: 7/23/07 at 2:21am

bump

[willact4food]

Posted: 7/23/07 at 1:39pm

bumpety - bump

show your love and congrats to Candice! she deserves it!

[willact4food]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 4:28pm

Today was Candice's last show!

Was anybody there?

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 4:30pm

A couple of my friends went. They won't be out for another hour or so, though, the show ends at 5:30.

[kellybean2]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 4:37pm

How cool for her! I had a friend who turned down the Midler audition because of the two-year commitment. You performers and your commitment/security issues! lol!

[willact4food]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 4:37pm

Oh, was it a 3:00 show today? I can never keep track.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 4:57pm

FYI -- she's now known as a Harlette, not just simply one of Bette Midler's back-up singers.

Oy!

[kellybean2]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 5:15pm

It's the same thing. Bette Midler's backup singers ARE Harlettes, simply or not.

[starlight2]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 6:40pm

I saw Bette and the Harletts YEARS ago and they were all amazing! Great show! is she taking over the Celine Dion theatre? I think the Harlettes were all African American when I saw it, but can't remember for sure, i know there were no blondes or showgirls types. I think that the Hairspray Tour original cast, motormouth maybelle, was a former Harlette? anyways, congrats to Candice Marie, hope I make it to Vegas in '08 to see this!

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 7:03pm

The Harlettes -- Bette Midler's legendary trio of back-up singers, are always multi-cultural. In the early years, she would cast them to off-balance everything: she'd have a super tall white girl with huge hair (Ulla); full figured black woman (Charlotte) and teeny-tiny black girl (Sharon). The look of all 3 girls together played up to the campy tone of Bette's show. In the last decade or so, she's kept to a more balanced-out trio, no longer using that off-balancing (and overtly campy) 'look' for The Harlettes.

Yes, Charlotte Crossley, who played Motormouth Maybelle in the US Tour of HAIRSPRAY was indeed a long running Harlette, as was Linda Hart, Broadway's original Velma in HAIRSPRAY. Also of note -- Melissa Manchester was one of the ORIGINAL Harlettes back around 1971. Another well-known Harlette was Katey Sagal, aka Peg Bundy of FOX TV's MARRIED WITH CHILDREN fame, as was Mandy Gonzalez of the now-legendary Broadway flop DANCE WITH THE VAMPIRE.


Some photos of Linda Hart, Katey Sagal and Franny Eisenberg as Harlettes:

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 7:22pm

Anyone know who's going to be the new dynamite?

[thejcm]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 7:50pm

Peg Bundy was a Harlette? That's hot.

[sondhead]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 8:03pm

Yay for the Candice love! She's a good friend and very talented. I didn't get to go up to see her last but a friend of mine did. I heard it went very well.

[ticenewyorkcity]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 9:25pm

was at the mat. today


after the curtain call and the "baltimore" section... when tracy say's "everyone...let's dance" she said " ladies and gentlemen tonight is one of our dynamites last performance... ladies and gentlemen candice marie woods..."

run dmc was there too and rumor had it they are related...i don't know

[ticenewyorkcity]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 9:25pm

was at the mat. today


after the curtain call and the "baltimore" section... when tracy say's "everyone...let's dance" she said " ladies and gentlemen tonight is one of our dynamites last performance... ladies and gentlemen candice marie woods..."

run dmc was there too and rumor had it they are related...i don't know

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 9:35pm

For those curious ones...here's Candice:




...and as a Dynamite (on the lower right):

[starlight2]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 9:39pm

wow! brodyfosse, someone is a big fan! thanks for the pics and all! and love the dynamite picture too! good Luck Candice! Viva La Vegas!

[sondhead]

Posted: 8/13/07 at 1:03am

"run dmc was there too and rumor had it they are related...i don't know"

No but that's pretty funny.

And the guy she's with in that pic is my ex. Never thought I'd see him here LoL
Updated On: 8/13/07 at 01:03 AM

[starlight2]

Posted: 8/13/07 at 5:04pm

Your X is hot! anyone know who the new Dynamite is? and when and where does Candice begin rehearsals? do you know how old she is? thanks!

[willact4food]

Posted: 8/13/07 at 5:40pm

I'm very glad to hear that they said something during the curtain call. That's very sweet.

I saw Candice this past Tuesday and she was incredible, as usual. It's been amazing seeing her grow as a performer. I went to high school with her, did speech and theatre together. I saw her for the first time in July of 2005, and it has been AMAZING to see her grow in this show. She is very very talented, and I know that big things are in store for her. I'm proud to say that I know her.

To answer someone's question - Candice turned 20 in March. She got Hairspray right out of high school (she actually finished up high school through correspondence).

She begins rehearsals in October.

And no, Candice and Run DMC are not related.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/13/07 at 10:25pm

Shannon ALWAYS makes a point to address people's final shows during curtain calls.

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 8/13/07 at 11:03pm

But Michelle was on as Tracy.