Amanda Richards originally came to Dunedin in July 2009, as a Rotary International ambassadorial scholar. Within a week of arriving, she met fellow University of Otago student and her future husband, Byron Richards.
The couple married in New Orleans, and returned to Dunedin in January, just in time for the Hairspray auditions.
''I really wanted to be part of Hairspray. I've been singing, dancing and doing musicals my entire life and it's a show with a lot of dancing in it, so I know it pretty well,'' Mrs Richards said.
The 25-year-old has majored in musical theatre at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and has also competed in the North American Irish Dance Championships.
Hairspray, which opens at the Regent on Friday, marks her first lead role and and her southern hemisphere debut.
''I can't wait. The message of the show is all about inclusiveness. It's about a fat girl in Baltimore in the 1960s who's a really good dancer and wants to be on a television show, but all the positions are taken by spoiled, skinny, white kids.''
