design & photos: Teresa Christian
Lights, camera, action! The high school theater students were at it again, and this time they brought “Hairspray” to life for the spring musical. From the original movie to a variety of variations, “Hairspray” is a well-known film and the theater program presented their own version of it as a musical.
Auditions for the musical were held in December, while all the preparations started in January. The week of Feb. 20 was around the halfway point of rehearsals and although a lot of advances were made to the show, there was still a long way to go.
“Preparations were coming along slowly but surely,” junior Loren Geiger said. “We were working as quickly and efficiently as possible to be ready for opening night, which was March 17.”
Although there are some common challenges to overcome in any musical, “Hairspray” also had a lot of unique hurdles to conquer, especially as the story is set in a completely different era with a variety of cultures and tensions.
“One of the things that is difficult about this show is that it takes place during the early 1960s at the beginning of the height of the Civil Rights movement in the United States; it is taking place in Baltimore where there has always been, and there still is, a lot of racial tension.,” theater head Cathy Swain-Abrams said. “With this show, we are contractially obligated to have certain characters played by white people and certain characters played by black people.”
The storyline of “Hairspray” also brought to light many issues regarding the treatment of black people back in those days and the theater program initiated a lot of conversations amongst themselves on the struggles faced by African Americans.
“With it being set in a different era, some of the things that they are talking about has caused us all to have a lot of conversations about the pain of hearing the struggles and knowing that the struggles still continue today when it comes to race and the way black people are treated,” Swain-Abrams said. “That is something we have only had a couple other times in our program.”
While the main basis for the musical aligned with the original movie, there were some differences between them.
“Our version of “Hairspray” is different from the original movie for a few reasons,” Geiger said. “For one, the original movie isn’t a musical and there are also a few characters who are different, but the main plot of the show was the same because the musical is based off of the original movie”
This musical follows the lead, Tracy as she auditions for a spot on the famous “Corny Collins” show, quickly becoming a celebrity. However, she navigates through many struggles as she is treated differently because of her size and rallies together the black people of the community to fight for integration and equality.
“This plot is an oversimplified version of the actual issues faced by black people,” theater student Shannon Barr said. “For example, at the end of the show, there is a fairytale ending where everyone is united and not racist, which is not realistic and does not give justice to all the struggles people faced and still continue to face.”
Opening night was a success as everything went smoothly and the performers gave it their all with all their singing and dancing. The audience also enjoyed the show immensely and they clapped and cheered along, giving the performers a standing ovation at the end.
“Everyone did a great job and it was a very entertaining musical to watch,” junior Aanya Tummalapalli said. “I really enjoyed it because all the songs and dances were excellent and you can tell that everyone put a lot of effort into this performance.”
