WILMINGTON — Cast and crew are fine-tuning their presentation of Hairspray, the musical with a message, as the 1960s-based show readies for its five-performance run Nov. 17-20 at Wilmington College’s Heiland Theatre.
Tickets are selling fast for the show, which will take the stage Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m., with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets for Friday and Saturday evening are sold out and limited seats are available for the Thursday show.
Hairspray represents a special collaboration between Wilmington College Theatre and the theatre program at Wilmington High School. WC’s Wynn Alexander, professor of theatre, and Bryan Wallingford, head of theatre at the high school, are serving as the show’s production manager and director, respectively.
Alexander said he and Wallingford had been looking for a potential project in which the talent and enthusiasm represented at both WC and WHS could be successfully joined from both an educational and entertainment standpoint. He recalled the schools’ collaboration in 2004 with Seussical, which was necessitated due to the renovation of the College’s Boyd Cultural Arts Center.
“This time we wanted to work together to create an educational opportunity for our students that was mutually beneficial and would allow us to create a piece of theatre that would showcase the talents of students from both institutions,” Alexander said.
Wallingford said Hairspray is the perfect vehicle in both size and scope, as it was clear that this is a “show that would challenge and stretch” the student actors, musicians and technicians.
“It was also clear that this was a show that could benefit from having the two groups work together,” he added. “We knew that Hairspray was not a show that either of us could do on our own. As the song says, ‘It takes two.’”
Alexander said they also thought the themes of this show would resonate with their students and audiences.
“Hairspray reminds us all that we are better as a community and a country when we come together to appreciate and celebrate our diversity, not allow our differences to keep us apart,” he said. “It also asks us to love and accept ourselves for who we are.”
Wallingford added that the character of Tracy Turnblad never lets her size or shape “determine who she can be or what she can achieve — something we all could stand to be reminded of from time to time.”
He said that, in many ways, both the college and high school students have grown and learned from each other.
“This is not just a case of the college students guiding and teaching the high schoolers,” he said. “The students are learning about rehearsal and performance expectations from their peers through witnessing the process that their fellow actors undertake.”
Alexander noted that the “camaraderie of the cast” and the rapport that the students from each school have with one another was not something he could have predicted, but, “It has been one of the highlights of working on this show.”
As with any Wilmington College and Wilmington High School production, they anticipate audiences will enjoy a meaningful theatre experience.
“Our audiences can expect to leave the theatre having been thoroughly entertained, with catchy songs stuck in their heads, a spring in their steps and sides sore from laughter,” Wallingford said.
Alexander added, “This is the type of show that makes you want to dance in the aisles, but it is also very touching and moving. Audiences will cheer on this lovable girl who is out to change more than just her hairdo…she’s out to change the world.”
Tickets are $12 and can be purchased by visiting the WC Theatre Box Office in Boyd Cultural Arts Center weekdays, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or calling the office for reservations at 937-481-2267.
