The Syringa Tree is the latest Playhouse in the Park play to see international production.

The Playhouse production, directed by associate artistic director Michael Haney and featuring Shannon Koob as a young girl growing up outside Johannesburg, South Africa, will run Jan. 27 to March 6 at the English Theatre in Vienna.

"This is an exciting opportunity for us and a nice compliment to the many introductions who worked on this production," says Haney.

• Tickets for Hairspray, this year's Tony Award winner for Best Musical, go on sale Friday. If you want first choice of seats for the giddy show about a '60s big girl with big hair and a bigger heart, dance on over to Hamburger Mary's (911 Vine St.) on Thursday between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. where Broadway in Cincinnati will host an all-day Priority On Sale Party. Between 4 and 7 p.m. you can get your hair bouffed by stylists from Saks (who'll donate their tips to a breast cancer charity.)

The New York Times wrote, "If life were everything it should be, it would be more like Hairspray." It plays Dec. 2-14 at the Aronoff.

• This week, Playhouse in the Park's tech crew goes to work building the swimming pool set for Metamorphoses (my choice for "gotta-see" show of the season.)

First the walls and braces for the 27-square-foot pool go in, then the filter lines and the pool lining. The pool deck and the rest of the set arrive from St. Louis next weekend. Production manager Phil Rundle estimates it will take 100 to 150 man hours to construct before the pool is filled with 2,000 gallons of water (heated to 102 degrees.)

Metamorphoses plays Oct. 21-Nov.21. Call the box office at 421-3888 for reservations and information.

• Falcon Players has found a home. Following season opener Jesus Christ Superstar, opening Friday and continuing through Oct. 25 at its longtime home Westwood Town Hall, the building is closing for renovations.

Falcon will move across the river in 2004 to The Monmouth Theater in Newport for musical spoof Gilligan's Island in February and contemporary classic Equus in May.

Falcon artistic director Ted Weil says - with a big grin - that he loves the intimate space. Falcon is also looking to pull from the larger region for its audience and working in the shadow of Newport on the Levee might do the trick.

Like last autumn's Rocky Horror Show, Weil promises a distinctly Falcon signature on Superstar. For reservations and information call the box office at 481-9042.