BY TOM FONTANA
Correspondent

This weekend, the Mountain View Drama Club will stage the musical “Hairspray,” which tackles bullying, bigotry, eating disorders, disfunctional familes, fear and hate.

And this popular Broadway show is a comedy!

“Hairspray,” which was the subject of the 2002 stage version as well as two movies, takes place in 1962 in Baltimore, Md. A ‘pleasantly plump’ teenager, Tracy Turnblad, wants to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local television program. Her mother, Edna, who has been afraid to leave the house for several years, is against Tracy’s dream, fearing that Tracy will be bullied because of her weight.

While serving school detention for a ‘monumental hair don’t,’ Tracy learns some dance moves from a black friend, which Tracy then demonstrates at the sophomore ‘hop’ in front of Corny Collins himself, who invites Tracy to appear on his show. When Tracy discovers that her friend is banned from joining her on the show because of his skin color, Tracy rebels, causing an uproar in a community now forced to face several prejudices in American society.
Margie McCarty, in her eighth year as Mountain View drama director, says she picked the show because of the moral challenges it presents.

“I knew my drama students would be able to capture the message and energy of the story,” McCarty states. “The subject matter will always be timely, especially for high school students.”

Although the play’s main focus is on the problem of racial prejudice, McCarty’s cast consists of only one African American student.

“We will ask the audience to accept that other cast members are African American,” McCarty explains. “There will be a note in the program that encourages the audience to identify with the characters rather than the color of their skin.”

In fact, McCarty herself appears on stage as Motormouth Maybelle, the black host of Negro Night on The Corny Collins Show. Besides McCarty, nine Mt. View faculty also have parts in the show, including fifth-grade teacher Scott Fisher, who plays Corny Collins.

“I felt that some of the adult roles would be more convincing if played by adults,” McCarty says. “So I put out a general invitation to any faculty member or administrator who would like to participate, and got a very good response.”

In addition to the 28 student cast members, the show goes even further out on the casting limb by having Tracy’s overweight mother, Edna, portrayed by a male student, senior Kyle Heide.

“The show was written for a male to play the role of Tracy’s mother,” McCarty states. “Kyle is doing a great job, and uses a voice that sounds like nuts and bolts going through a meat grinder. He has really inhabited the role.”
Sophomore Travis Hartman, who studies dance at the Windward Studio in New Milford, has choreographed all of the dancing in the show.

McCarty also credits two sophomores, Branden Freeley and Heather Chrzan, for painting scenes on moveable walls that represent various locations in the play.

The show’s music recalls the ‘downtown’ rhythm and blues of the era, and high school chorus teacher Jamie Boerio is the musical director. The actors will sing accompanied by a recording of a full orchestra.

Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, March 5-7, at 7 p.m. each night in the high school auditorium. Tickets, available at the door, are $8 for adults, $5 for students.