Hairspray The Broadway Musical Sticks in Lake County

This summer has been filled with Hairspray—no, not the beauty product—the Broadway musical here in Lake County, Illinois. Join Tracy Turnblad on her quest to be on the popular 1960s Corny Collins TV Show, where she champions diversity and inclusion when her dreams come true. But how can one teen win the affection of heartthrob Link Larkin, dethrone the reigning Teen Queen, and integrate a TV show while surviving school detention, scatter dodgeball, and jail?

Hairspray was produced earlier this year in Lake County at PM&L's theater from May 30–June 22, by director Darius Russelle and the production team. There were many stunning performances by the cast with Kai Roberts and Hannah Czaplicki as the amazing Tracy Turnblad, the magnetic couple Mom Edna (Kevin Connerty-Dubrolowski) & Dad Wilbur Turnblad (Matthew Craig), and Myndia Willams bringing an outstanding performance as Motormouth Mabel. The shows villains, Velma & Amber Von Tussle, played by Christi Nicholson and Annalise Jordan, were equally compelling. John Furjanic, a patron of the arts, said, "The energy was amazing. It was worth the ride from Chicago."

The College of Lake County's production of Hairspray runs on weekends, July 18–27. CLC's production uses a live pit orchestra that features local Lake County musicians, rather than the normal pre-recorded tracks. Conductor and Orchestral Director Paul Hefner leads the nine-piece pit orchestra, the rhythm section comprising of Dr. Karl Seigfried on bass, Dr. Paul Nielsen on guitar, Bill Chapin and Manda Stilson-Diver on keyboards, plus Dan Prowse and Josiah Jackson on drums/percussion (please note, the doctors are only on-call for musical emergencies.) The horns include Theresa Lams and Andrew Carpenter on reeds (3-4 instruments each), Amy Nelson on trumpet/flugelhorn, and Tracey Nielsen on the trombone. Favored band beverages range from water and whey protein, gin & tonic, diet as well as regular Coke, Coors and margaritas to lightly roasted Guatamelan Hue Hue coffee and white chocolate mocha.

Director Scott Metzger, Vocal Director Mitchell Lewis, and Choreographer Lamaiya Lancaster and the amazing Theatre Program Production Supervisor Evan Oslund match the talented crew and cast of CLC's Hairspray. In cooperation with Music Theatre Internation (MTI), Hairspray the Broadway Musical is based on the New Line Cinema film, written and directed by John Waters with the book by Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell, music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Tickets to CLC's production of eight shows have all been snatched up.

Although CLC's shows have sold out, Highland Parks' Uptown Music Theater has a production of Hairspray running July 25–August 3rd. Tickets run between $30–$60 with a discount for children, students, seniors, and groups and can be purchased here. Shows are held at The Grand Theater at Highland Park High School.

Amazon, Apple, and Fandango also offer Hairspray the Broadway Musical on their streaming services and YouTube has videos from high school productions of this beat-filled musical.