Good morning, Baltimore – I mean Eldridge! There’s a new show in town by way of Countryside Community Theatre’s current production of Hairspray, The Broadway Musical adapted for the stage from the film of the same name and co-directed by Steph Bley and Keenen Wilson.
It is boisterous, fun, nostalgic, uplifting and delivers a message that resonates with our better selves. Its 2002 Broadway run of 2,642 performances garnered 13 Tony award nominations – winning 8, including Best Musical – and its London run was nominated for 11 Laurence Olivier Awards – winning 4, including Best Musical.
The story takes place in 1962 Baltimore and follows Tracy Turnblad, a plus-sized teenager, as she pursues her dream to dance on The Corny Collins Show and to meet her crush, the handsome Link Lardner. Her mother, Edna, tries to dissuade her, fearing their lower middle class background and less than perfect physique will bring down ridicule. But her dad, Wilbur, urges her to go for it. She does get cast on the show and becomes an overnight celebrity; along the way she comes face-to-face with racial discrimination via the show’s “Negro Day” when she meets Seaweed Stubbs and Motormouth Maybelle. Determined to fully integrate the show, Tracy helps to organize a protest march from the “wrong side of the tracks” to the TV studio. Ya-da, ya-da, ya-da, there’s a lot more to it, but I don’t have time here to tell it all and it’s really way more fun to just see it.
Each and everyone of this gargantuan cast of 28 are absolutely fantastic. Caroline Sieren as Tracy hits not only the right notes vocally; she totally captures rhapsodic teenaged naiveté especially in her number “I Can Hear the Bells.” Micah Roldan utterly nails Link, no doubt partly because he’s been lucky to play the part at Davenport Central High School as well. Stealing every scene they’re in are T Green as Edna and Cal Vo as Wilbur. As you may know, Edna’s character is required to be of rather – shall we say – prodigious stature and Green more than fits the bill and her flawless timing is spot on. Vo is considerably smaller in stature – he barely reaches Green’s shoulder – and the contrast of the two, combined with their larger than life performance amplifies both the comic schtick and the endearing duet of “Timeless to Me,” which tugged at my heart strings. Another literal scene stealer – and by that I mean a standing ovation in the middle of the show – is Yolanda Washington as Maybelle with her number “I Know Where I’ve Been.” It literally gave me goose bumps.
This beautiful, funny script that spotlights the unseemly way we sometimes treat those deemed as “different” – whether by color, body, religion, or ethnicity – as worthwhile and they all deserve our r espect.
Please remember that because this script is set in 1962 it contains the racial language and stereotypes of the time. And because my background is that of a 75 year-old white female I feel we should be able to accept these elements in that context, but that is your judgment to make. I truly feel this show is more than worth the drive to Eldridge.
Hairspray performances by the Countryside Community Theatre continue at North Scott High School Fine Arts Auditorium located at 200 South First Street in Eldridge, Friday and Saturday, August 1 and 2 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, August 3 at 2:00 p.m.
I’m Chris Hicks…break a leg.