Todrick Hall

A gifted showman and self-promoter, singer/songwriter/choreographer Todrick Hall's clever musical videos drew a huge audience on YouTube, which led to mainstream work on television and his own ambitious musical, "Straight Outta Oz" (2016). Born April 4, 1985 on a farm in Arlington, Texas, Hall's first brush with fame came as a contestant on the ninth season of "American Idol" (Fox, 2002-2016), during which he reached the semi-final rounds in 2010 before being voted out of the competition. When the exposure afforded by the series failed to generate any stardom, Hall returned to Texas, where he began writing and directing in offbeat musical videos for YouTube. The first of these featured Hall singing his order at a McDonald's drive-thru window and generated considerable viewership; by 2012, he had graduated to full-blown musical tributes, including "Beauty and the Beat," which refashioned the Disney musical as an urban fantasy, and a promotional short for Virgin Airlines which detailed its pre-flight safety briefing as an R&B music video. One video, a "Wizard of Oz" (1939) parody titled "The Wizard of Ahhhs" (2013) which featured the vocal group Pentatonix, generated over 4 million viewers, which attracted the attention of manager Scooter Braun, whose clients included pop star Justin Bieber. The high-powered representation led to an array of top-shelf assignments, including choreography duties on the single "Blow" for Beyonce, a commercial for MTV and serving as a judge on "RuPaul's Drag Race" (Logo, 2009- ). In 2016, Hall issued a "visual album" for "Straight Outta Oz," a new musical based on the classic musical with guest contributions by fellow "Idol" vet Jordin Sparks and singer Nicole Scherzinger. Hall toured with a live version of the show in 2016, shortly before taking over the role of cross-dressing powerhouse Lola in the Broadway run of the musical "Kinky Boots" that same year.