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OUR THEATER EXPERT, ACTOR AND SINGER JOEY MCINTYRE, CHATS WITH KEALA SETTLE ABOUT HER STARRING ROLE IN THE TOURING PRODUCTION OF HAIRSPRAY, LIFE ON THE ROAD, AND THE JOYS OF SLEEPING AT A NO-FRILLS HOTEL.

Joey McIntyre: When did you start the tour?
Keala Settle: I started a few years ago as a standy: They bumped me up once the lead took over on Broadway.

JM: It sounds like one of those classic cases where you finally got the chance and you hit it out of the park.
KS: I went to audition and I wanted to be one of the black kids, and then I ended up being a fat white kid, but that's fine. I got the gig! I stood in line with 1,200 people, thinking I was going to be sent home in a hot second.

JM: That is so good to hear
KS: Don't get me wrong. I'm still very much a Podunk girl who has no skills and wouldn't be seen dead at a Ritz-Carlton. They try to put me up in fancy hotels, but I"m over it!

JM: I tend to keep it real myself. I try to let everybody think I'm staying at the Ritz-Carlton--you can't tell the producers that I'm happy with the Holiday Inn! But I actually am. How long have you been on the road doing the lead?
KS: i started doing the lead every day in April 2004. I've been doing it nonstop ever since.

JM: Have you been to Boston?
KS: Boston was one of the first three cities that we hit while we were on tour. It's actually one of my favorite cities, and I'm not jus saying that. I love it because of the heritage and the culture there.

JM: Where are you from?
KS: I'm from Hawaii. So to be able to go where there's a bunch of American history is fascinating to me, because I'm from a rock in the middle of the ocean, and all my relatives came across on boats.

JM: Do you pay attention to the critics?
KS: To be truthful, the show was a movie and then it was a Broadway musical. You are always going to be compared, so you just hope that you do justice to whatever your piece is and have a good time while you're doing it.

JM: Amen to that.
KS: To be honest with you, I don't come from a musical-theater background,. I come from the background that you are probably more familiar with which is recording. This is my very first show, and I'd never even seen it before I audition. I just liked the music. My biggest thrill was playing at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. That's Broadway for me. I'm a huge fan, I'm a huge DC fan, and I've wanted to play there since I was a little kid. As a performer, an usher,; as a gift-lady. Wahtever.

JM: That's awesome. Are you working on your own music?
KS: I am actually. I play keyboard and I play ***PEACE, LOVE AND ROCK-N-ROLL!***, so I try to while I'm on tour.

JM: Have you been able to take time for yourlself?
KS: To be honest, when you play the role for eight shows a week, it's exhausting. It can get frustrating if you let it frustrate you, but that's when you have to go home and take yourself out of the picture and go, alright, focus. Do your job. Enjoy it, have fun. And then leave it there and go home and unwind and do your thing.

Hairspray takes the stage a tthe Colonial Theatre Oc.t 4-16, 106 Boylston St, Boston, 617-426-9366: broadwayinboston.com