[ad_1]
“Hairspray” began as a very indie film by John Waters in 1988 and turned into a musical in 2002. The touring production of “Hairspray” marks Broadway San Diego’s return to live performances this week. The show is directed by former Old Globe Artistic Director Jack O’Brien and Jerry Mitchell.
John Waters and “Hairspray”
John Waters has been called The Sultan of Sleaze, The Prince of Puke and The King of Schlock – all titles he proudly wears.
In 1972, he shocked audiences with Pink Flamingos, a no-budget independent film set in his hometown of Baltimore, in which his beloved Divine, a 300-pound drag queen who plays the infamous babs for her dirtiest title Person fights, starring plays alive. The film was total satirical crackdown on middle class values, which Waters viewed as oppressive and hypocritical. The film dropped a bombshell in the culture war of the early 1970s, but what made Waters unique was the upbeat quality of his work, the nasty delight he took in the trashy profanity.
RELATED: The John Waters Trash Movie Theater
Although he explored topics such as incest, exhibitionism, and the singing anus, his approach to filmmaking drew on a Hollywood tradition of straightforward storytelling, entertainment rather than education, and a stable of celebrities. By turning to those Hollywood trappings, he eventually found a mainstream hit in Hairspray, which dealt with racism through the lens of 1960s Baltimore teenagers and featured Divine as Edna Turnblad. Waters is pleased with the irony of this success.
The film eventually became a hit musical, with Harvey Fierstein making his name for himself as Edna, and then the stage musical translated back to the big screen in 2007 when John Travolta donned drag and a thick suit to play Edna.
‘Hairspray’ the musical
O’Brien admits that turning movies into musicals has become a “lazy formula” as not all stories are made to sing. He turns to all of his years directing Shakespeare at the Old Globe Theater to explain it.
“When I was working on Shakespeare, I was always fascinated by the fact that the common people spoke prose, intelligent people in empty verse, but people raised to higher consciousness speak poetry,” said O’Brien. “And I don’t know how many people know, but when Romeo and Juliet meet, they speak in interlocking sonnets, perfectly coordinated sonnets, which he means that there is no way these people can be together because they are a rarer form the communication share reserved only for Shakespeare characters and angels. I think now what is above poetry is music. If you are passionate enough for whatever you think, then prose, empty verse, poetry won’t work for you. You have to open your mouth and you sing. I mean that. When you look at the piece you are thinking about, does it need that other dimension? And if not, can it? But it is a sublime state that requires music. And if the person thinking of making a musical out of their movie, or any other movie, can’t find that structure, I would ask them not to do the damn thing. “
But Waters’ film was filled with rock and roll music and youthful passions, so a musical works.
The staging of a play that deals with racial relations in today’s social and political context in the 1960s caused O’Brien to pause.
“We’ve all looked at this piece in the market today with hypersensitivity to role-playing and tropes and what to say and what not to say, and we basically thought it was okay for it to be, in fact.” it’s a very accurate historical account of what went on in 1962 from which we can then see how we got here, “said O’Brien. “It’s a tiny tiny time capsule of racial relations that shows the naivety, sweetness, and innocence of these kids who don’t quite understand why they’re not allowed to dance together. And you see this little girl who has a dream driven by the imagination and talent of black children and has enough of her own divine fire to make her dream come true. In that regard, it couldn’t be more timely. “
“Hairspray” will run Tuesday, November 16 through November 21, at the Civic Theater in San Diego.
[ad_2]
Source link