Reviews/Press

Dwan Hayes is superb as the psychic Oda May Brown. She has great comic timing and delivers some of the show's best lines with flair. The role won Whoopi Goldberg an Oscar and, like Goldberg, Hayes creates a hilarious and crowd-pleasing character.

Talkin' Broadway

Gil Benbrook

Ms. Hayes as Rosie comes close to creating a fully shaped character out of air. Her courtship bid to the adamantly single Bill (Daryl J. Roth) in the church number, ''Take a Chance on Me,'' is the most charming number in the show, and her first line was enough to send the entire house into a cheering frenzy.

The Show Report

Chris Daniels

Vocal powerhouse Dwan Hayes plays the character Rosie and Tanya played by Sophia Swannell, injects the comic flair and charm of the sexy "older woman."

Laguna Beach Vibe

Lisa Farber

but it’s Hayes and Swannell who prove the evening’s most memorable grown-ups, the former investing tomboy Rosie with equal parts sexiness and sass.

StageSceneLA

Steven Stanley

Dwan Hayes brings Seaweed’s mom Motormouth Maybelle to sassy, brassy, big-voiced life, hitting some of the highest notes Laguna Beach has heard in the stirring “I Know Where I’ve Been”

Hairspray Wow!

Steven Stanley

Dwan Hayes is soulfully glorious as Motormouth Maybelle. She slays her 11 o'clock anthem "I Know Where I've Been" like a pro.

Laguna Playhouse Welcomes Adorably Plucky HAIRSPRAY

BWW

Sylvia (a terrific Dwan Hayes, who stops the show with her crowning vocal "There's Always Me.")

Elvis gets Laguna All shook Up

L.A.Times

Dwan Hayes, as Sylvia, raises the roof with her powerful Motown-style vocals.

‘All Shook Up’ is rock candy cooked up sweetly

The Orange County Register