06/06/2026
Hairspray brings joyful start to Pride month
There are a lot more forms of bigotry in the world than just homophobia, racism, and misogyny, but Hairspray, the new main stage offering by Maine State Music Theatre, charmingly stomps them all out with song, and, of course, dance.
The story surrounds a pleasingly plump young woman whose parents (Wilbur, played by Joel Newsome and Edna, drag queen actor Robert Anthony Jones) will never be invited to join the local country club and whose best friend Penny Pingleton (Eileen Ray Brady) is afraid of her own shadow and her rather domineeringly religious mom Prudy Pingleton (played by MSMT veteran Charis Leos). But Tracy Turnblad (Eden Franco) has a dream -- to dance on an afterschool tv show hosted by Corny Collins (Dan DeLuca) and unfortunately underwritten by former beauty queen Velma Von Tussle (Amy Bodnar) who has grand plans for her daughter Amber (Tori Heinlee) to follow in her six-inch heeled footsteps.
When one of the "nice kids" who make up the tv dance group gets "in trouble" and has to take a leave of absence, Tracy auditions to replace her during her leave. and immediately falls in love with Link (Trevor Wayne) who is using the show as a stepping stone to stardom, not realizing the game is rigged in favor of Amber. Meanwhile, Penny falls in love, too, with a black boy from the other side of the tracks, Seaweed J. Stubbs (Lawrence Flowers) whose mother Motormouth Maybelle (Tarra Connor Jones) runs her own black music production company and a record store.
The Von Tussles laugh, but Corny ultimately chooses her to be in the group when she shows some of the dance moves she learned from her black friends from detention. Corny wants the show to move in a new and more progressive direction, and Tracy wants to integrate the corps.
The immediate goal for Tracy is to win the Hairspray contest, but the attempt to integrate the corps of dancers leads to their arrest. Most of them post bail but the Van Tussles arrange for Tracy to be held indefinitely so that Amber wins the Hairspray contest. Link, however, breaks her out of jail, and together with her parents and her black friends from the other end of town, they all appear just in time for the contest.
From the first stirring song sung by Tracy, "Good Morning Baltimore" to the finale, "You Can't Stop the Beat", Hairspray is an homage to changing times, teenage hope and love, support by parents to help their children find the best way forward, and the belief that talent and joy are more important than the size of one's waist or the color of one's skin.
The dancing and singing are remarkable as always, and the Mama Bear mothers -- Edna, Motormouth, Velma, and even, in the end, Prudy -- help to uplift their children in a changing world that they may not understand, but are willing to lend a hand along the road.
Hairspray will be playing through June 20. Don't miss this one!
