Don’t stop the beat! You can’t stop the beat in this big, bold musical about one girl’s inspiring dream to dance. Hairspray the Musical comes to the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City, grab your tickets, and get ready to sing and dance-a-long to a fabulous, family-friendly musical, piled bouffant-high with laughter, romance, and deliriously tuneful songs. A musical that has become a cultural phenomenon for the greater part of 20 years! Premiering on Broadway as far back as 2002, the show took home a staggering 8 awards at the 2003 Tony’s, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book
Welcome to 60s Baltimore! Pleasantly plump Baltimore teen, Tracy Turnblad has only one desire, and that is, to dance on the popular Corny Collins Show! And when her dream finally comes true, Tracy is transformed from awkward social outcast to sudden Mega Teen Star! But can she use her newfound power to vanquish the reigning Teen Queen, win the affections of her heartthrob, the oh so lovable, Link Larkin and, as if that weren’t enough, she also wants to get Black teenagers as full-time dancers on The Corny Collins Show?! All without putting a dent in her ‘do! Well, that’s it, the 50s are out, change is in the air! And chaos is about to wreak havoc all out across Baltimore.
Hairspray, winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, with a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, this all-new touring production reunites Broadway’s award-winning creative team led by Director Jack O’Brien and Choreographer Jerry Mitchell. In 2003 Hairspray won eight Tony Awards out of 13 nominations and it also won nine of the 14 Drama Desk Awards that it was nominated for, as well as the Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Best Musical in 2007. The London production was nominated for a record-setting eleven Laurence Olivier Awards, winning four, including Best New Musical.
The musical is based on John Waters’ 1988 film of the same name, and spawned the 2007 film version of Hairspray, remade from the musical, starring Zac Efron and John Travolta grossed $27.5 million during the first weekend of production, the highest opening for a musical until Mamma Mia! opened in 2008, while Hairspray’s lifetime grossing amount set a record of $118.8 million making it one of the highest-grossing musicals of all time.
HAIRSPRAY at the Fisher Theatre Dazzles Audiences with a Joyful Score and Gifted Young Cast, review for BroadwayWorld by Stefani Chudnow, January 2022.
“As a cultural phenomenon for the greater part of 20 years, the Hairspray musical is a gem of a show that doesn’t come around to Detroit all too often. In fact, this engagement is only its second official visit to Detroit, according to the playbill. Consequently, when this show makes an appearance in a city near you, you need to take advantage of the opportunity to see it live. Songs such as “Welcome to the 60’s,” “Run and Tell That,” and “You Can’t Stop the Beat” exude energy that you can feel down into your bones. This national tour is no exception. A seasoned Hairspray fan will hardly be able to contain themselves from singing along to the songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and newcomers to the show will surely be tapping their feet to the irresistible beats the show continuously delivers.”
