He was an accomplished actor/singer/disco diva with impeccable comedic timing-but, more importantly, he was a consummate professional. If a role called for him to squeeze into a gold lamé dress, get down on the ground, and eat dog shit, he delivered. If a director wanted him to stuff a big slab of raw meat up his skirt, he said "How high?" If the props department needed human feces for an upcoming dinner-party scene, he was on it. (In fact, rumour has it, the man could crown on demand.) He was simply Divine.

And if ever there were a really big pair of shoes to fill, it would be those of the late, great poodle-poop-eating drag queen. Both figuratively and literally, Harris Glenn Milstead was a large presence in American indie film during the '70s and '80s—in other words, a tough act to follow. But Jerry O'Boyle's not worried. This, despite the fact the virtually unknown actor is taking on Divine's most memorable (or at least most mainstream) on-screen role—that of Edna Turnblad, the doting mother—in the hit stage version of the musical Hairspray, which hits town next Tuesday (November 18) to November 23 at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts.

"I was relieved when they first called me to audition," recalls O'Boyle, who's been playing Edna on Broadway since 2006. "They told me immediately they were not looking for an impression [of Divine]. They wanted someone with just as much distinctiveness and [who is] just as comfortable with themselves as Harvey Fierstein [who originally played Edna on Broadway].”¦I thought, ”˜I can do that.' "

It's been 20 years since John Waters unleashed his camp classic on the big screen, but O'Boyle still remembers his first impressions of the '60s-themed dance romp.

"Yeah, I'm old enough to have seen it in the theatres," says the Chicago native with a laugh. "Most of the kids on the show weren't born yet when it came out in movie theatres.

"It was just fun and groundbreaking," he continues. "I really liked the universality of it. There were so many underdog stories that it gave everybody something to relate to."

Set in bouffant-era Baltimore, the story revolves around a "pleasantly plump" teenaged girl who seeks fame and fortune on a local American Bandstand-style dance show. Along the way, she falls in love and shows her sheltered mom, Edna, how to live a little. It's that transformation from fretting housewife to gregarious glamazon that O'Boyle has always admired about Edna's character.

"Through my own days on the therapist's couch, I've realized that fear is a negative motivator in a lot of people's lives, including my own," says O'Boyle, calling from his hotel room in Regina, where Hairspray is making a pit stop during its cross-Canada tour. "She's someone who learns to overcome her fear. Accepting oneself is just a beautiful thing."

As for John Travolta's spin on the larger-than-life '60s mom in the unwatchable 2007 remake, O'Boyle seems pretty lukewarm about the whole thing. And who could blame him? Is it just me, or are fat suits the lowest form of wit? There's broad comedy and then there's Martin Lawrence comedy. But that's not what bothered O'Boyle.

"I didn't necessarily agree with all the choices that they made," he says, referring to the fact that Travolta's Edna is really insecure about her marriage to Wilbur. In the original film, their marriage is rock solid—and, as O'Boyle points out, it's quite significant that Wilbur is the only truly present father in the entire movie. "But," he adds, "they executed it brilliantly. I had a great time watching it, but as far as an experience, I think it's nothing like seeing it live."

When it comes to the work that Divine and Waters did together, however, O'Boyle is a huge fan. In fact, meeting Waters is on his unofficial bucket list. But as much as he admires their outrageous on-screen antics, there are a few stunts that O'Boyle would never do for the maverick filmmaker—including downing doggie do.

"I would maybe emulate those things, but I would never actually do them," he says, before adding: "At least not while my mother's still on this earth."