No more "Hairspray" fat suits (Don't Miss Today's Weekly Blast!)
The show's creators specifically wrote the role of Tracy Turnblad for "fat girls"
This is a preview edition of The Broadway Maven’s Weekly Blast. A full subscription is $5/month or $36/year.
Shalom!
This week, The Broadway Maven looks at Hairspray.
• On Sunday, November 27 at Noon ET and Monday, November 28 at Noon and 7 pm ET we’ll have a FREE class exploring the hilarious Broadway adaptation of John Waters’s 1988 film. Register here.
• This Weekly Blast includes:
A) an ESSAY about Broadway roles for fat women that are played by skinny performers in fat suits (included here FREE in this preview edition);
B) a YouTube GEM about Broadway heartthrobs;
C) a REVIEW of The Book of Broadway Musical Debates, Disputes, and Disagreements;
D) a new Video QUIZ testing the ability to name a Broadway show by sight alone;
E) a SURVEY about your participation in The Broadway Maven projects (included in this preview edition); and
F) a LAST BLAST about Rent.
“The fact that the gay guy and the fat girl get to play the lead roles in their high schools or junior high schools is something we enjoy… hopefully every girl who plays Tracy Turnblad is the right size, isn’t just a skinny girl in a fat suit.”
That’s what Hairspray co-creator Marc Shaiman told The Broadway Maven when he visited our class a few years ago to talk about his show.
He was right.
Many plus-size high school actresses have been unnecessarily hurt by being locked out of a role written for them. And body acceptance is part of the point of the show! That aspect hasn’t evaded the ideas and feelings of high school girls who crave representation on the high school stage.
Here’s Minnesota teen Izzy Kanne:
“Even if the intention behind the costume is sincere, it comes across as a mockery of the body type. To hear (that) a character (who) symbolized strength and beauty was going to be played by using a fat-suit felt disrespectful.”
The ALL-ACCESS Passes for 2023 are on sale at a discount. The Early Bird rate of $195 (same as last year) expires December 12.
It’s the ultimate show about acceptance - especially regarding race and body diversity. We’ll look at the music and especially the lyrics of this compelling show, and ask why it made such a strong impact when it hit Broadway in 2002. (Hint: what was happening in New York in the fall of 2001?)
Note: the Sunday class meets only at Noon ET.
ALL-ACCESS Passholders do not need to register. Just show up.
For the Hairspray class, watch these lyrics from the show and identify your favorite; explain your answers in the comments.
Note: links to register for ALL classes are ALWAYS available at TheBroadwayMaven.com.
• Sunday, November 27 Hairspray (Noon ET, FREE)
• Monday, November 28 Hairspray (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)
• Tuesday, November 29 NO CLASS
• Sunday, December 4 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Noon ET, FREE)
• Monday, December 5 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)
• Sunday, December 11 Company (Noon ET, FREE)
• Monday, December 12 Company (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)
• Sunday, December 18 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Noon ET, FREE)
• Monday, December 19 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)
• Tuesday, December 20 MASTER CLASS on Hamilton (Noon and 7 pm ET, $12, Registration opens soon)
• Sunday, December 25 NO CLASS
• Monday, December 26 Assassins (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)
Reminder: ALL-ACCESS Passholders do not need to sign up or pay for anything. Just show up!
LAST BLAST: The “U” in the number “Today 4 U” from Rent is, wait for it, Andrew Lloyd Webber. The song is about how a dog named “Evita” plunges to her death (from a balcony, get it?) after percussion music by Rent character Angel (the show’s heroine who dies young). Perhaps with “tomorrow for me” Jonathan Larson was declaring that the torch of Lloyd Webber mega-musicals had been passed — or should have been passed — to HIS generation of composers and their very different kind of Broadway show.
The Broadway Maven, David Benkof, helps students further their appreciation of musical theater through his classes, his YouTube Channel, and his Weekly Blast. Contact him at DavidBenkof@gmail.com.