As any Baltimorean worth his/her salt knows, Hairspray is the John Waters movie (turned Broadway play) about Tracy Turnblad, an overweight Baltimore teenager who dreams of dancing on the Corny Collins show. Discrimination is a huge theme in the story, as Tracy fights to be accepted herself, and also protests the show’s discrimination against its black dancers.
Which is why the Plano Children’s Theatre production of the show is causing a bit of a ruckus: there are no black cast-members, and the teenager playing Tracy has to wear padding to appear properly plump. According to the president of the theatre’s board of directors, no black actors auditioned. Not wanting to cancel the show due to “political correctness,” the organizers decided to include a disclaimer in the show’s program:
“if the production of Hairspray you are about to see tonight features folks whose skin color doesn’t match the characters (not unlike how Edna has been traditionally played by a man), we ask that you use the timeless theatrical concept of ‘suspension of disbelief’ and allow yourself to witness the story and not the racial background (or gender) of the actors. Our show is, after all, about not judging books by their covers! If the direction and the actors are good (and they had better be!) you will still get the message loud and clear. And hopefully have a great time receiving it!”
According to the show’s original composer, Marc Shaiman, he and the show’s other writers didn’t feel it was right “to tell an actor they are incapable of portraying a character” because of their skin color.
We can’t help wondering what John Waters has to say about this.
