Laura Bell Bundy is a Tony® Award-nominee. She’s been a leading lady in the kind of shows that even people who don’t go to musicals will recognize as big deals. She was the original Elle in the musical version of Legally Blonde. She’s also played Glinda in Wicked on Broadway.
But when she thought about going on tour, pulling together some of her favorite songs along with some behind the scenes stories that audiences love to be let in on, she decided she didn’t want to do that by herself at least not this time around.
She and two other Broadway and Hairspray veterans — Tony®-nominee Kerry Butler and Tony®-winner Marissa Jaret Winokur – will be at the Hobby Center this Saturday in Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now, singing any number of well-known songs. All three were in the original cast of Hairspray. Butler also originated Broadway roles in Beetlejuice, Mean Girls, Xanadu, and Little Shop of Horrors, just to name a few. Winokur won the Tony®-Award for portraying Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray.
Included in their review is music from Hairspray, Legally Blonde, Wicked, Beetlejuice, Xanadu, Gypsy, Sound of Music, Grease, Tina Turner, Little Shop of Horrors, Titanique, Lion King, Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Gloria Gaynor, There’s No Business Like Show Business, Once Upon A Mattress, Annie, Ruthless, and Merrily We Roll Along.
“The show sort of charts our origin stories from getting into the business, to Hairspray, the things about Hairspray you might be surprised to find out. And then the rest of our careers, our lives, finding loves, becoming mamas ourselves,” Bundy says.
“Together, we all came up with it together,” says Bundy. “We wrote it, we directed it, we co-produced it when it was in New York.” Initially, they didn’t have projections but now they’re a regular part of the show, giving audiences glimpses of them as kids and in their various Broadway roles.
In addition to the two shows they’ll be putting on the same day in Houston, all three have to report for a morning sound check and rehearsal with the band – which Bundy readily admits makes for a very long day.
“The show is also very much about a 20-plus year friendship. We have supported one another. We’ve been there for each other in our lives. We laugh at each other. We tease each other. You can feel that in the show. “
“It’s a review in the sense we’re using popular songs, songs that you know us for singing. We tell the stories of our lives using the songs. “
Do audiences join in on their songs sometimes? Yes and they don’t mind. In fact, they count on most everyone joining in on their final song: “You Can’t Stop the Beat.”
Performances are scheduled for Saturday, December 13 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-315-2525 or visit thehobbycenter.org. $40-$85.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.