Tabor Academy’s Drama and Music Departments present Hairspray, a musical theatre production based on the New Line Cinema film written and directed by John Waters, book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman. The performance will be at the Tabor Academy Fireman Center for the Performing Arts in Hoyt Hall, 235 Front Street, Marion on February 19, 20, and 21 at 7:30 pm. Presented by special arrangement with Music Theatre International.
When John Waters wrote and directed the campy film Hairspray in 1988, he was satirizing the fact that more than three decades after the Civil Rights movement, African Americans and other disenfranchised groups still did not enjoy the rights that white Americans did. The show is set in Baltimore, Maryland, circa 1962, and follows a normal teenager, Tracy Turnblad, while she chases stardom and cleverly leads the desegregation of a popular TV dance show.
With the events in Ferguson, New York, and other cities across the nation this past summer and fall, as well as with the resulting protests concerning these fatal encounters between the police and young black men, Waters’ ironic wit is as sharp today as it was in 1988. Although the film was never mainstream, Waters’ Hairspray spawned a small industry that has become as Main Street as a Broadway production in 2002 and a Hollywood film in 2007. In the years since, the show has had numerous national and international tours. In 2014-2015, with Tabor’s commitment to inclusivity and enrolling a diverse student body, staging Hairspray seemed like the proverbial no-brainer!
Hairspray celebrates the debut of the marginalized, of those who look and perhaps sound different and who struggle to express themselves in a world that represses their voices. We deserve a place, they say; we deserve to be heard. Indeed, as the signature lyrics from the show’s finale suggest, “You can’t stop [that] beat.” The train of integration and equality is barreling down the tracks, and “tomorrow is a brand new day, and it don’t know white from black.” In staging Hairspray, Tabor’s cast and crew – fifty-eight strong – hope to spread that message.
A number of local students, all from Marion, are participating in the production including Lucy Saltonstall ’17 as Sketch, Oliver Sughrue ’16 as Fender, Logan Russell ’15 as Wilbur, Eleanore Sullivan ’15 as Velma, Abigail Taber ’15 as Doreen, Sophie Polonsky ’17 in Costuming, Madeline Kistler ’18 in the Technical Crew, Jack Gordon ’17 in the Technical Crew, and Julia O’Rourke ’15 as the Stage Manager.
The cast and crew invite the local community to Tabor Academy to enjoy Hairspray, a feel-good musical comedy in the Fireman Center for the Performing Arts in Hoyt Hall at 235 Front Street, Marion. The show will begin at 7:30 pm on February 19, 20 and 21 with tickets available for $10 at the door.