Hairspray (Revival)

[Timon3]

Posted: 4/17/24 at 7:22pm

One of my favorite musical of all time, give a strong poignant message without being preachy. Broadway could do with a star studded revival?

Broadway could do with a fun & light hearted musical.

You cannot stop the beat!

Updated On: 4/17/24 at 07:22 PM

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 4/17/24 at 7:35pm

Honestly I feel like Hairspray, as much as I like it, would feel very dated if they brought it back today. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 4/17/24 at 8:51pm

Give it another 20 years and then let Daniel Fish rip it a part.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 4/17/24 at 8:55pm

TheatreFan4 said: "Honestly I feel like Hairspray, as much as I like it, would feelvery dated if they brought it back today."

That didn't stop Spamalot to be fair.

I love Hairspray but agree. I think it would be tough to re-mount as a revival. I think it's meant to be a popular one for community theaters and cruise ships and the like at this point 

[QueenTwinnied]

Posted: 4/17/24 at 9:19pm

The non-equity tour has been hitting every market in the country for the last couple years, can’t say a revival would be necessary at this moment 

[BwayLB]

Posted: 4/17/24 at 9:50pm

Give myself another 5-10 years before I feel in the mood sitting through another production. But Hairspray was one of my first musical obsessions. To be exact, the first musical I’ve seen since Wicked ignited my love of musicals!

[Kad]

Posted: 4/17/24 at 10:14pm

It’d be nice to see a production that wasn’t just a faded copy of the original staging, I think. A fresh interpretation and fresh slate of design elements would be welcome. 

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 4/18/24 at 3:09am

The original Australian production wasn’t a copy of the Broadway show ( that came for the shows 20th anniversary ) that production used video screens etc and sadly palled in comparison to the original staging. 

[Zeppie2022]

Posted: 4/18/24 at 9:14am

Loved the show and enjoyed the movie of it but don't see the need for a revival at this time.

[hearthemsing22]

Posted: 4/19/24 at 8:27am

Well, Heart of Rock and Roll is fun and lighthearted, but not many people seem to be giving it a chance. We'll see what happens with opening tonight**edit: next week-all these openings, I got confused! 

Updated On: 4/19/24 at 08:27 AM

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 4/19/24 at 9:23am

They probably could/should have done the opposite of The Wiz - a limited revival followed by a national tour. I think it would have done well for a limited run around reopening, it’s light, and would then continue to do well on the road. I don’t see a stand-alone revival being a big success, especially not right now. 

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 6/6/24 at 2:59pm

"A Hairspray Revival May Be Broadway-Bound"

https://www.broadway.com/buzz/204273/a-hairspray-revival-may-be-broadway-bound/

[Kad]

Posted: 6/6/24 at 3:01pm

If it's true, I hope it's a new production with a new creative team behind it.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/6/24 at 3:09pm

Kad said: "If it's true, I hope it's a new production with a new creative team behind it."

Doesn't sound like it since Jack O'Brien was talking "we."

I wouldn't mind a new creative team –– with a Black director/choreographer –– but I also wouldn't mind seeing the show back on Broadway in ANY format, with a great cast.

[Rentaholic2]

Posted: 6/6/24 at 3:56pm

I could see Hairspray becoming the new Dreamgirls - a show that was done so well the first time, it never gets revived despite its popularity.  

[BeingAlive44Ever]

Posted: 6/6/24 at 4:05pm

Here's my Hairspray thing. I love it so much, but I think everything that could reasonably be done with it was done in the initial very long production. Will there ever be a better cast than the original? ... Well, maybe Hairspray Live was similarly excellent, but even then... Really consider the stars that aligned for that unbelievably exceptional original cast. I mean, Harvey Fierstein as Edna is probably one of my favorite performances on stage ever, up there with John Cameron Mitchell in Hedwig and Alfie Boe in La Boheme. Marissa Jaret Winokur was, as far as I'm concerned, perfect and irreplaceable. I have never seen a Tracy that I liked even half as much. Matthew Freaking Morrison got his start in Hairspray, and you don't get much better than him. Not to mention Laura Bell Bundy, Dick Latessa, Kerry Butler, Corey Reynolds, Mary Bond Davis, Jackie Hoffman... Clarke Thorell was alright too. Linda Hart was kind of not very good, honestly. If they do do a revival, I'd like to see what they do with that role. Kristin Chenoweth played it in Hairspray Live, but I don't think she will ever do such a small role in a Broadway show ever again. I think that the last time she ever would've done that was... Well, Steel Pier. I just have trouble imagining who could even do this show? That's to speak nothing of the direction, the choreography, the sets, the initial excitement of such an adaptation, and the fact that, as many others have stated, some of the material may be a bit dated. Now, if they revived it, I would be with decent certainty that they'd bring in Harvey to revise the book. They already did for Hairspray Live, and he was responsible for a lot of script doctoring on the original, it's almost a no brainer. But there's not much you can do, really, to make it not be dated, other than just totally change the story. 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 6/6/24 at 4:09pm

Kad said: "If it's true, I hope it's a new production with a new creative team behind it."

 

Why mess with perfection?

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/6/24 at 4:11pm

Does the script need to be doctored? Was it doctored at all prior to the recent London or tour productions?

HAIRSPRAY is one of those shows where the roles are pretty easy to play well. It's been done a lot, and the audience always has a great time, and a lot more people have seen it without the original cast than with the original cast.

It also may be a show that can survive, at least for 6-12 months on bway, without a major star and just a really talented, energetic cast and a well done production.

[BeingAlive44Ever]

Posted: 6/6/24 at 4:27pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Does the script need to be doctored? Was it doctored at all prior to the recent London or tour productions?

HAIRSPRAY is one of those shows where the roles are pretty easy to play well. It's been done a lot, and the audience always has a great time, and a lot more people have seen itwithoutthe original cast thanwiththe original cast.

It also may be a show that can survive, at least for 6-12 months on bway,without a major star and just a really talented, energetic cast and a well done production."

Maybe you're right. I personally still enjoy it but I've heard a lot of my black friends voice disapproval over how the show almost seems to present the only solution to the black community's problems being help from a chubby white girl. In Hairspray Live, the script was redone a bit in order to make the black characters kind of have more agency in the story. But a lot of people still have trouble with the fact that they need a white leader in order to protest at all. In real life, of course, you need support from other groups to protest for rights, but never would anybody suggest these days that you need, for example, a straight leader in LGBT endeavors. I personally still enjoy Hairspray a lot and don't find it problematic, I'm only attempting to explain the problem some people have with it. I just think it's a big fun show that has a great message and doesn't try to seriously break that message down. I think it's basically harmless.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/6/24 at 4:38pm

Having Black creative team members in significant decision-making positions (not just as associates or consultants) could certainly help the show's perception as a "white savior show." But if the intention for this supposed revival is to recreate the original, then I doubt that would happen.

[seaweedjstubbs]

Posted: 6/6/24 at 6:17pm

In case you couldn’t tell from my username, Hairspray is my favorite musical and has been ever since I first listened to the cast recording. I’m also a Black male. Maybe my love for the show blinded me to some of its issues, but I never really thought of Tracy as a “white savior.” Tracy’s initial plan to get the show integrated fails and gets everyone thrown in jail. After that, she’s ready to give up, until Motormouth convinces her and everyone else that they must keep fighting. We don’t get to see whose idea it is to crash the Miss Hairspray competition. I like to believe that Motormouth herself takes the lead with the plan. In my version, she’s the true savior. But I get it - Tracy wins the competition and gets to announce that the show is integrated, and that definitely gives the impression that she’s the savior. I think the 2007 film version tried to rectify this with Lil Inez winning the competition, leading to Corny making the announcement instead. I don’t quite remember the changes that Hairspray Live made, but it didn’t seem too far off from the original script. At the end of the day, it IS Tracy’s story. Having her take a more passive role in the plot would be odd.

The real dance show that John Waters based The Corny Collins Show on, The Buddy Deane Show, also attempted to integrate, but instead the powers that be just shut down the show all together. If people want Hairspray to reflect more of reality, it wouldn’t be Hairspray anymore. It’s not a history lesson, it’s not a true story, it’s a fable. If people want a deep and complex musical about racism, Hairspray isn’t it. But it was never really trying to be. 

[BeingAlive44Ever]

Posted: 6/6/24 at 8:15pm

seaweedjstubbs said: "The real dance show that John Waters based The Corny Collins Showon, The Buddy Deane Show, also attempted to integrate, but instead the powers that be just shut down the show all together. If people want Hairspray to reflect more of reality, it wouldn’t be Hairspray anymore. It’s not a history lesson, it’s not a true story, it’s a fable.If people want a deep and complex musical about racism, Hairspray isn’t it. But it was never really trying to be."

I agree completely. I think that people overblow the "problematic" nature. People also say Hedwig is problematic and "transphobic" when it was never a trans story to begin with. Same thing with this show: Hairspray involves a racial issue, but it's very shallow in how much it explores it. The appeal is how fun it is, how great the score is, how unique the characters are. Racism is more of a backdrop to talk about universal love between humans.