He has BIG role
in ‘Hairspray’

By Rita Charleston
For the Times

His mother recognized his talent when little Michael Walker was just four years old.
He was in day care at the first Baptist Church in Huntsville (Alabama) and got in trouble with the teacher, running away from her and locking himself in the bathroom. Well, the teacher knocked on the door and said, "Michael Walker, you let me in there!" And little Walker replied "Not by the hair on my chinny, chin, chin."
That did it.
"I think my mother knew from then on something was going on with her child. I think she recognized my flair for comedy. Shortly after that she sent me to a theater camp where I was bitten by the bug, and that was that."
In fact, Walker was so bitten that he never stopped performing, as audiences will see for themselves when he takes the role of the larger-than-life Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, coming to the Academy of Music for a weekend engagement, May 2 to 4.
Hairspray is set in 1962 in Baltimore. Tracy Turnlad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion — to dance. She wins a spot on the local TV dance program, The Corny Collins Show and, overnight is transformed from outsider to irrepressible teen celebrity.
Walker plays Tracy’s mother, complete with 40 extra pounds of padding and four-inch heels.
Said Walker: "The added weight can get to be burdensome on your back and shoulders. And honestly, I never walked in four-inch heels before, so all that does create a bit of a challenge. But although it makes life difficult it also makes me look fabulous."
The actor had big shoes to fill in other ways, following in the footsteps of other big stars who did the role before, most recently John Travolta.
"I think comparisons are inevitable, and they don’t bother me. I just do the best I can to make Edna as real as possible. Too often you’re tempted to make her this big, funny, Flip Wilson/Geraldine type of character. I know I can’t make her a cartoon. I know I have to stay true and make the audience believe that this woman is real and cares about her daughter above all else."
This is really a great role, Walker continued. "The script’s got some killer jokes and I think that’s one of the most rewarding parts of doing this show. I get to go up there and play this woman’s journey from being agoraphobic to being on television. It’s great to play a character like that. In a way, it’s kind of epic with a huge Broadway presence."
A graduate of the University of Alabama, which is affiliated with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Walker studied classical theater there, preferring to be trained in the classics because he felt as though that was a great foundation for what, hopefully, would come afterward.
He said he moved to New York City right after graduation to put into practice the things he had learned. But mostly, musicals kept coming his way. He toured as Horton in Seussical the Musical, and did such regional shows as The Full Monty, Guys and Dolls, Anything Goes and the Man of La Mancha.
"My agent does send me out for a lot of musical roles, because in this business, if you can sing you can get a job. There are less and less paying gigs for straight actors in straight theater. But someday I’d love to do Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. I would love to get back to some serious acting…someday." ••
For ticket information, call 215-731-3333.