An old song, sung by two crooners from the Rat Pack, named Frank Sintra and Dean Martin, goes, “The weather outside is frightful… let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Some areas of Chicago got walloped with nearly 18 inches of snow, but that didn’t stop the theater faithful from packing the CIBC Theatre for the premiere of Hairspray. And if you were one of those who braved the snow, ice, and wet and slushy downtown streets and pavement, you left the theater saying, “It was worth any minute.”

A new North American tour, directed by Jack O’Brien and electrifying choreographer Jerry Mitchell, based on the New Line Cinema film written and directed by John Waters, Hairspray is a “wang dang doodle” fun time for the entire family. With music and arrangements by Marc Shaiman, this Broadway’s Tony Award musical comedy will have you dancing and singing in your seats from the moment this plays starts.

Set in 1962, Baltimore is where a teenage girl named Tracy Turnblad dreams of dancing on The Corny Collins Show on a local TV station WZZT, a doo-wop teenage weekly television dance series. When an opening becomes available due to a dancer having to leave the show for nine months, Tracy wins a role on the show and becomes an overnight star. But, when she learns about the show’s segregated policies that blacks and whites couldn’t sing and dance together, she unites with her new friends to integrate the show and won the 1962 Miss Teenage Hairspray competition.

The impressive touring cast features RuPaul’s Drag Race Andrew Levitt, aka Nina West, as Edna Turnblad, the mother of Tracy Turnblad, played by Niki Metcalf. Niki, who dreamed of playing the role of Tracy in Hairspray, was phenomenal. She truly captured the love life naive teenager that just wanted to dance and have fun. In addition, the talent in this North American tour graces us with the beautiful voice of Toneisha Harris as Motormouth Maybelle, whose breath-taking version of “I Know Where I’ve Been” will have you marching to the next picket line.

Will Savarese is excellent as the sexy lover-boy Link Larkin, Tracy swoons over. And there is Emery Henderson, who waited nine hours to audition for the role of the socially-awkward teenage girl whose best friend is Tracy Turnblad, Penny Pingleton, the biracial girlfriend of Seawood, played by Brandon G. Stalling. Kaelee Albritton as Amber Von Tussle, Addison Garner as Velma Von Tussle, Christopher Swan as Wilbur Turnblad, and more cast members.

Kalea Leverette played Little Inez, the cute little sister of Seaweed, who won the competition in the 2007 movie version of Hairspray. The vocal harmony of the Dynamites featuring Shante Clarke, Nichelle Lewis, and Renee Reid was superb. And who can forget the star of the Corny Collins show, Billy Dawson, who nails that role of Corny Collins.

Featuring the hit songs including “Welcome to the ’60s,” “Good Morning Baltimore,” and “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” Hairspray is a two-hour festival that will keep you rocking and rocking all night long. But, of course, you can’t miss the title of this play with all of the Ultra Glow hairspray cans and aerosol spray on stage.

The 2007 movie cast of Hairspray had an all-star cast featuring John Travolta, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, James Marsden, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, and the incomparable Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle. Even writer, director John Waters did a cameo as the flasher. In addition, Ricki Lake, who played Tracy Turnblad in the original 1988 movie, plays a cameo in the 2007 production of Hairspray.

The Corny Collins Show in Hairspray is a fictional program based on the real-life television series called “The Buddy Deane Show. A teen dance show created by Zvi Shoubin and hosted by Winston “Buddy” Deane aired on WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Maryland, was unfortunately canceled due to the network’s unwillingness to integrate the program.

Let’s Play Highly Recommends Hairspray at the CIBC Theatre.

CIBC Theatre
Hairspray
Written by John Waters
Directed by Jack O’Brien
February 1 – February 13, 2022