You can’t stop the beat of Broadway in Chicago’s talented, touring ‘Hairspray,’ and you certainly wouldn’t want to

Lest there be any doubt—and responses to Broadway in Chicago’s recently marketed tour of the starkly recreated, Tony-winning OKLAHOMA! tell us this is always a possibility—the musical Hairspray did, does and always will champion racial harmony and body image positivity. So it is with the BIC production gracing the CIBC Theatre through Feb. 13.

Bottom line: This touring Hairspray is timeless to me and timely for all. Don’t miss it.

The OKLAHOMA! tie-in is forefront in my mind, courtesy of a pre-Hairspray discussion with a fellow patron. While she is certainly within her right to be disgruntled over gusts of wind too subdued to be considered “sweepin’ down the plain,” it was a specific comment to which only my KN-95 disguised my horror. Just moments ahead of plus-size Tracy Turnblad’s declaring, “I wish every day was Negro Day,” my row-mate gave her review of last month’s OKLAHOMA! thusly: “There’s no way Ado Annie is a big, fat, Black girl.”

This woman apparently didn’t realize her missed opportunity to declare herself a three-pronged -ist; Ado Annie in the touring production of OKLAHOMA! is performed by transgender actor Sis. And somewhat surprisingly, the patron’s identity politics didn’t seemingly prevent her from enjoying Hairspray, clapping through the “ocean of the motion” swim moves in the production’s ebullient finale, “You Can’t Stop the Beat.”

The reason for this anecdote is two-fold. It shows Hairspray’s place among the finest contemporary American musicals along with the hopeful reality that we have actually made some progress in human relations since 1962 Baltimore. But it also shows that the “whole lotta ugly coming from a never-ending parade of stupid” is, well, never-ending. Because until folks can address biases—implicit and explicit—by suspending belief that things are supposed to be a certain way—white, slim, straight, cis, male…—then, I’m sorry, Motormouth Maybelle, but the light in the distance will remain faint, the road rocky, the dream troubled and the promise elusive.   

If the last of these three takeaways is sobering truth, the first two share why musical theatre patrons should run to see this extraordinarily well-sung, energetically-danced, stellar production. Helmed by the show’s original (now iconic) director Jack O’Brien and choreographer Jerry Mitchell, the cast is led by Andrew Levitt (aka Nina West from RuPaul’s Drag Race) as Edna Turnblad; Niki Metcalf as Tracy Turnblad; and Gabriyel Thomas as Motormouth Maybelle. It also includes Chicagoland’s Billy Dawson as Corny Collins; Will Savarese as Link Larkin; Christopher Swan as Wilbur Turnblad; Emery Henderson as Penny Pingleton; Brandon G. Stalling as Seaweed J. Stubbs; Kaelee Albritton as Amber von Tussle; and Addison Garner as Velma von Tussle.

They all work together to offer some insight into breaking down our -isms, courtesy of a plus-size, Caucasian leading lady with Soul Train moves. She takes on the bigoted, hard-hearted producers of Baltimore’s “The Corny Collins Show,” a local love child of “American Bandstand” and “The Mickey Mouse Club.” Her mission is integrated dancing, and Tracy Turnblad will not rest until “every day is Negro day.”

This Hairspray’s path to 2022 began with 1998’s John Waters film followed by the uber-successful Broadway musical (Best Musical and Best Director Tonys in 2003) and smash 2007 film starring Nikki Blonsky as Tracy and John Travolta as Edna. It features a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan and a fabulous original score by Marc Shaiman, who also co-wrote lyrics with Scott Wittman. (A full plot synopsis and production history can be found here.)

In a non-Equity tour where no one on- (or back-) stage misses a beat, Metcalf wows as Tracy, and her option up at the end of “I Can Hear the Bells” is to die for. Thomas is a magnificent Motormouth Maybelle, whose “I Know Where I’ve Been” is particularly moving with the directorial decision to have only Black actors singing while their white contemporaries look on. Stalling is a smooth and rubbery Seaweed. Levitt and Swan are a lovable Edna and Wilbur; their “Timeless to Me” is spot-on, even if that belabored tag should be dropped in all productions of this show. But it’s the overall energy from this enthusiastic cast of terrific singers and dancers that’s the key takeaway. That’s evident in, among others, “Good Morning Baltimore,” “Welcome to the ’60s,” “Big, Blonde & Beautiful,” “Without Love,” and “You Can’t Stop the Beat.”

As an added note, I applaud NETworks Presentations, the company producing this tour, for employing a large, diverse cast who do the source material complete justice. At the same time, authenticity demands Tracy’s understudies be cast with size-appropriate actors, too.

In reflecting on his own journey with Hairspray, director O’Brien says, “It’s a brand-new world we find ourselves in today, and Hairspray is even more relevant than 20 years ago when it first burst onto the scene. With a whole new generation of wildly talented kids across the board, we cannot wait to raise the various roofs once more with dance, joy, music and that glorious, famous, energy-packed score.”

Indeed, if it is to be, it’s also this new generation who will guide humanity to travel a smoother road, led by a brighter light, toward the dream of a promise fulfilled. Full disclosure: It was my 24-year-old daughter Christina Reszel Feeney who full-throatedly called out our row-mate’s comment as racist to her face. I only hope that next time (and sadly, there will be a next time), her father has her mettle.

Hairspray runs through Feb. 13th at CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., Chicago. For tickets or more information, please click here.

Photos by Jeremy Daniel.