Dominican Students Preparing for Hairspray Debut

The critically lauded musical Hairspray is bringing its unique blend of furious energy and socially conscious message to Dominican High School.

The musical, which was released by Broadway to American high schools a year and a half ago, has been in production at Dominican since December and has kept its cast busy building up the stamina required for the energetic show.

Based on a 1988 John Waters camp comedy, Hairspray opened on Broadway in 2002. Since then, it has enjoyed two national tours and a 2007 film adaptation with a cast featuring John Travolta and Zac Efron.

Set in 1962, Hairspray chronicles the efforts of its plus-size heroine Tracy Turnblad to land a spot on the Corny Collins show and fight against the racial injustice that bars black dancers from the show.

“What I like about the story is that the girl that everybody always picks on wins, said director Jeff Schaetzke, who has directed plays at Dominican for 14 years. Schaetzke said the social dynamics of high school make the musical very relatable to young audiences.

Schaetzke, who said he saw the Broadway production five times, added that the musical compounds its social message through commentary on race. 

“I love the fact that it is a diverse cast. I love that we can feature our diversity here at Dominican, and all of the fantastic African-American talent that we have, along with just everybody that has something,” he said.

Multiple cast members said the most challenging part of the play has been building up endurance through a conditioning regimen that would allow dancers to sing and dance at the same time through numbers that sometimes reach the 17-minute mark.

“The last dance is like 14 minutes long, so you really have to work up your stamina,” said Dominican senior Maggie O’Neil, who plays Velma Von Tussle, one of the villains of the musical. “We do a lot of workouts and things and singing at the same time and up-downs—[things that] you don’t normally expect within a theater production, but it makes us so much better.”

“It gets better as you keep doing it, but at the beginning I could barely sing and dance at the same time,” said Dominican sophomore Jarred Bedgood, who plays Seaweed J. Stubbs. “But it got better.”

Schaetzke said he has enjoyed watching the cast improve its physical endurance.

“There are kids who don’t stop for the first 20 minutes,” he said. “Twenty minutes is a long time. The last number is 17 minutes long, and it just kind of keeps building and building and building.”

The group ensemble numbers involve a combination of acting, singing and dancing skills, so every cast member has a chance to show off their talents.

“It’s a great show to act, sing and dance in, and you don’t necessarily have to be a triple threat to be in the show. There’s nice group ensemble numbers,” Schaetzke said.

Dominican sophomore Christopher Vance, who plays Tracy’s mother Edna Turnblad in drag, said the camaraderie of the cast has been building at pace with its stamina.

“What’s most positive is everybody from like freshman to senior working together and creating,” Vance said. Vance’s sister LeAnn plays Tracy, Edna’s daughter.

“It’s a little bit of role reversal,” LeAnn Vance said of the casting.

Dominican senior Ann Hagner, who plays Velma in one of the rotating casts and a dancer in the other, said the most rewarding part of the musical has been watching it come together.

“I love watching things develop. I love watching from day one and then watching opening night and watching the change happen,” said Hagner.

The musical will run from Feb. 25-27 and March 3-6 in the auditorium of , 120 E. Silver Spring Dr. There will be an additional matinee showing for grade schools on Feb. 24.

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 25, 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 26, 2 p.m. on Feb. 27, 7 p.m. March 3, 7:30 p.m. on March 4, 7:30 p.m. March 5 and 2 p.m. March 6. Tickets are available online at www.dominicanhighschool.com or by calling the Dominican Box office at (414)332-1170, extension 485.