Hairspray Study Guide

Charleston Stage: Hairspray Curriculum Guide

Hairspray

Education Guide


Setting The Stage Credits Hairspray Book by Mark OʼDonnell and Thomas Meehan Music by Mark Shaiman Lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman Directed by Marybeth Clark Music Directed by Amanda Wansa Scenery Design By Stefanie Christensen Costume Design by Barbara Young Theatre Etiquette Discuss proper audience behavior with your students. While applause, laughter, and reaction, when appropriate, are appreciated and anticipated, unnecessary noise or movement can distract the actors and audience members, while also affecting the quality of the performance. It is very important that students understand how their behavior can affect a live performance. You, the teacher, and other adult chaperones for your group are responsible for your student’s behavior. We ask that the chaperones sit among the students rather than together in a group behind the students. Our ushers will react to disruptions and attempt to quell them. We reserve the right to remove any student causing a distraction from the theatre. When entering the theatre venue please make sure all of your students have name tags with their name and your school’s name.


Meet the Creators!

Thomas Meehan Thomas Meehan won the 2003 Tony for co-writing the book for Hairspray, the 2001 Tony for the book of The Producers and the 1977 Tony for the book of Annie, which was his first Broadway show. He has since written the books for Young Frankenstein, I Remember Mama, Ain't Broadway Grand, Annie Warbucks and Bombay Dreams. He is a long-time contributor of humor, including "Yma Dream," to The New Yorker; an Emmy-winning television writer; and a collaborator on screenplays, including Mel Brooks' Spaceballs, To Be or Not to Be and The Producers. He is a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild. Read more: http://broadwayworld.com/people/bio/Thomas_Meehan/#ixzz0vZ2ETA8s

Mark O’Donnell (born July 19, 1954) is an American writer and humorist. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College in 1976. He was the writer and librettist for three Hasty Pudding musicals for the Hasty Pudding Theatricals group.

O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan shared the 2003 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical[1] and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical for their work on Hairspray, and they wrote the 2007 film adaptation. The pair also worked on another John Waters musical adaptation, Cry-Baby, for which they received a 2008 Tony nomination.

O’Donnell’s novels include Getting Over Homer and Let Nothing You Dismay. Along with Bill Irwin, he wrote Scapin, a 1997 play adapted from the original by Molière.


Scott Wittman While directing a show for a club he met Marc Shaiman, and the two became collaborators and life partners. While Shaiman wrote for television shows, including Saturday Night Live, Wittman directed concerts for such artists as Bette Midler, Christine Ebersole, Raquel Welch, Dame Edna Everage, and Lypsinka, among others. In 2002, Shaiman and Wittman collaborated on Hairspray, which won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics, the Tony Award for Best Original Score, and a Grammy Award. In addition to Hairspray, Wittman conceived, wrote lyrics for, and directed Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and conceived and directed Matters of the Heart, a solo concert by Patti LuPone. At the present time, the partners are working on Catch Me if You Can, a musical adaptation of the 2002 Steven Spielberg film, together with Terrence McNally.

Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman started his career as a theatre/cabaret musical director. He then became vocal arranger for Bette Midler, eventually becoming her musical director and co-producer of many of her recordings, including The Wind Beneath My Wings and From a Distance. He helped create the material for her performance on the penultimate Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. His work with both Bette Midler and Billy Crystal led to his involvement on their films. Characters Tracy Turnblad A "pleasantly plump" teenager, who dreams of fame and fights to racially integrate The

Corny Collins Show. Edna Turnblad Tracy's kind, plus-sized mother – a drag role. Edna runs a laundry business out of her

home. Amber von Tussle

Bratty, selfish resident princess of The Corny Collins Show, despite her lack of talent. She is willing to do anything to win the Miss Teenage Hairspray pageant.

Velma Von Tussle

Amber's scheming mother and producer of The Corny Collins Show, who pushes her daughter to seek the stardom that she never had.

Penny Pingleton Tracy's slightly dorky, devoted and perky best friend. Link Larkin A teenage heartthrob and one of The Corny Collins Show Council Members, who falls in

love with Tracy. Motormouth Maybelle

The owner of a downtown record shop and the host of "Negro Day" on The Corny Collins Show, self-described as "big, blonde and beautiful".

Seaweed J. Stubbs

A hip "Negro Day" dancer and the son of Motormouth Maybelle who falls in love with Penny.


Wilbur Turnblad Tracyʼs goofy father, who owns the Har-De-Har Hut joke shop and is still madly in love with his wife, Edna. He encourages Tracy to follow her dreams.

Corny Collins The eccentric and cocky host of The Corny Collins Show. Little Inez Seaweed's younger sister, who tries to audition for The Corny Collins Show but is turned

away because she is black. Female Authority Figure

The Matron guarding The Big Dollhouse; the Gym Teacher; and Prudy Pingleton, Penny's overprotective and often close-minded mother.

Male Authority Figure

Mr. Pinky, owner of Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway who gives Tracy and Edna a makeover; Principal of Patterson Park High School; and Mr. Harriman F. Spritzer, the President of Ultra Clutch

The Dynamites The three singers from Negro Day. Synopsis of HAIRSPRAY

Spoiler alert, you may not want to read this before seeing the play.

Important NAMES will be in RED

ACT I Pleasantly plump teenager Tracy Turnblad wakes up in Baltimore in June, 1962. She sings about her life there and her love of dance ("Good Morning Baltimore"). She rushes home from school to watch the Corny Collins Show ("Nicest Kids in Town") with her best friend, Penny Lou Pingleton. The girls are excited to learn that there is a chance to audition for the show the next day. After convincing her father and an unwilling mother, Edna Turnblad ("Mama I'm a Big Girl Now"), she goes to the audition. While there, Tracy bumps into her crush, the “budding Elvis” Link Larkin, and swoons with emotion ("I Can Hear the Bells"). The producer of the Corny Collins Show, Velma von Tussle, confronts Tracy about her weight and general lack of cool ("Miss Baltimore Crabs"). When she returns to school, Tracy gets detention for skipping to go to the audition. While in detention she meets Seaweed J. Stubbs, a dancer on the show’s “Negro Day” and the son of famous DJ Miss Motormouth Maybelle. Later, while playing scatter dodgeball, Tracy is knocked unconcious by Amber von Tussle, who is the front-runner for Miss Teenage Hairspray and the girlfriend of hunky Link Larkin. As Link, Penny, and Seaweed try to help Tracy up, Seaweed suggest they travel to North Avenue to his mother's platter party. Seaweed then sings about the adversity he faces because of his ethnicity ("Run and Tell That"), which takes the audience to North Avenue. While there Tracy realizes that it is wrong for blacks and whites to not be able to dance together, and she concocts a plan to protest the studio. Tracy's mother, Edna, is hesitant, but after a little singing by Miss Motormouth ("Big, Blonde and Beautiful"), they are on the march. Link is worried about his career and ditches the protest group; unfortunately, while rallying, the women are all arrested. ACT 2 The act opens in the State Penitentiary with the women singing about the reasons they need to


get out of jail ("Big Dollhouse"). Velma von Tussle arranges to get herself and her daughter Amber out with no charges. Tracy's dad, Wilbur, bails everyone else out except Tracy, who has been locked in especially by the Governor. Distraught over her daughter's fate, Edna frets to her husband about being a bad mother, but Wilbur calms her down by singing her a love song ("You're Timeless to Me"). Tracy, now in solitary confinement, sings about her life in act one and is very sad ("GMB Reprise"). However, filled with remorse, Link Larkin comes after Tracy, and with the help of a Zippo lighter and a can of hairspray, he breaks Tracy out of jail. Meanwhile, Seaweed rescues Penny from her home, where she is tied up for "going to jail without permission." The two couples sing about the power of love ("Without Love"). The whole group concocts a new plan to crash the Miss Hairspray contest at the Eventorium. The show is in full swing with Corny Collins singing the title song "Hairspray" and Amber singing "Cooties," which she dedicates to Tracy "Turnblah." Tracy, Edna, Wilbur, Miss Motormouth, Seaweed, Penny, and the gang bust in singing the showstopping number "You Can't Stop the Beat," during which Amber loses the title of Miss Hairspray, the couples show off their love, Edna finally achieves her dream of designing her own clothes and the company celebrates by ringing in a new era of equality in Baltimore.

Curriculum Connections

See if you can catch these famous people of the 1950s and 1960s mentioned in Hairspray!

Connie Francis: A top singer of the 1950s and early 1960s. She appeared in the classic

Spring Break movie, Where the Boys Are (1960).

Gidget: Pint-size surfer girl originally played by Sandra Dee in Gidget (1959). Sequels

included Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) and Gidget Goes to Rome (1963).

Jackie B. Kennedy: First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, wife of President John F.

Kennedy, was known for her trendsetting style, particularly her bouffant hairdo and pillbox

hats.


“Hair Hopper”: A Baltimore term for someone, male or female, who spent too much time on

their outsized hairdos.

Rock Hudson, Doris Day: Starred together in romantic comedies such as Pillow Talk (1959)

and Lover Come Back (1961). He was tall, good looking, and debonair,while she was known

for her squeakyclean “good girl” image.

“Wilt the Stilt”: At 7'1", Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain was one of the NBA’s legendary

players, setting numerous records during his 14-year professional basketball career.

Candid Camera and Allen Funt: Allen Funt was the host of Candid Camera, the first

hidden-camera stunt show, which captured the reactions of ordinary people to pranks played

by Funt and his cast. The show first aired in 1948 and has been revived on various TV

networks for over 50 years.

Peyton Place: Based on a popular novel, this 1957 melodrama delved into the sordid

secrets of a New England town. It became the first American prime-time soap opera television

series in 1964.

Jackie Gleason: Robust comedian best known for creating The Honeymooners television

show in 1955. His trademark phrases included "And away we go," "Hommina hommina

hommina," and "To the moon, Alice!"


“Don’t tell me Khrushchev has his shoes off again”: On November 17, 1956, millions of

television viewers saw Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev pound the podium of the United

Nations General Assembly with his shoe, shouting at the West, “We will bury you!”

Metrecal: First introduced in 1960, Metrecal (from “metered calories”) was a canned diet

drink, like today’s Slim·Fast.

Eddie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Liz and Dick: Singer Eddie Fisher and perky film

comedienne Debbie Reynolds married in 1955 (they are the parents of writer/actress Carrie

Fisher, perhaps best known as Princess Leia from the Star Wars movies). Fisher fell in love

with Elizabeth “Liz” Taylor, and married her in 1959 on the same day he divorced Debbie

Reynolds. Taylor went to Italy in 1962 to film the epic Cleopatra. Although Eddie Fisher was

also in the film, Taylor fell for her co-star Richard “Dick” Burton. Their affair made headlines

worldwide. They married in 1964, divorced in 1974, and remarried the following year.

Frankie Avalon and his “favourite Mouseketeer”: Teen idol Frankie Avalon’s “favourite

Mouseketeer” was Annette Funicello, who became a star on the 1950s TV series The Mickey

Mouse Club. They met in 1958 and became a wildly popular couple, starring in 1960s movies

such as Beach Party (1963) and Bikini Beach (1964).

The Gabor Sisters: Glamorous Hungarian sisters Zsa Zsa, Magda, and Eva Gabor became

known in Hollywood for their seductive, sophisticated, yet slightly scatterbrained,

personalities.


Mamie Eisenhower: Wife of President Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower, she was First Lady from

1953 to 1961, known for her trademark bags and fondness for pink clothing.

Gina Lollobrigida: Sultry Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida was known in the 1950s as “The

Most Beautiful Woman in the World.”

“Castro’s invading”: In 1961 the United States launched an unsuccessful attempt to

overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro by invading the Bay of Pigs. Tensions remained high

between Cuba and the U.S., culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962.

Glenn Miller: Popular bandleader and composer of the 1940s, known for hits such as

“Moonlight Serenade.”

Chubby Checker: Originally named Ernest Evans, singer Chubby Checker created a dance

sensation with his recording of “The Twist” in 1960.

The Hindenburg: The 800-foot blimp, Hindenburg, was the largest aircraft ever flown. While

landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937, the ship was destroyed in a tragic fire

when the hydrogen that filled the blimp ignited. (Modern blimps are filled with nonflammable

helium).

Eva Marie Saint: Northwest (1959).


Lingo of the Times

See if you can catch these fun phrases being used by the cool kids of Patterson Park High!

Go ape- go crazy/mad

Big tickle- really funny

Cooties- imaginary infestations of the truly uncool

Cut the Gas-be quiet

Don't have a cow- don't get so excited

Fream- someone who doesn't fit in

Hep/Hip- someone who is cool or with it

Horn- telephone

Kick- a fun or good thing. Also a fad.

Unreal-exceptional

What's buzzin cuzzin?/ What's your tale, nightingale- what's the story

Timeline

Hairspray takes place in 1962, at a time when the African-American civil rights movement

(1955-1968) was gathering momentum. This was a reform movement, whose aim was to

abolish racial discrimination imposed on African Americans. At the time Hairspray is set,

racial tension was high; demonstrations and riots were in the daily news. More and more

students, both in college and in high school, were becoming involved in protests against

segregation in all areas of society.

• 1946 Concerned about the prevalence of racial discrimination, President Harry


S. Truman establishes the President’s Committee on Civil Rights.

• 1947 Jackie Robinson joins the Brooklyn Dodgers and becomes the first black major League player.

• 1948 President Truman orders the integration of he US military • 1954 In Brown v. Topeka, KS Board of Education, the US Supreme Court declares that

“separate educational facilities are inherently uneual, and orders that students be admitted to public schools without regard to race.

• 1955 In Montgomery, AL Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man in defiance of local laws. Bus boycott led by Martin Luter King, Jr. successful overturns he ordinance.

• 1957 Pesident Dwight D. Eisenhower sends federal troops to enforce the rights f nine black students to enroll at Central High School in Little Rock, AK.

• 1960 Sit-ins at segregated public restaurants and lunch counters and held throughout the South.

• 1961 Freedom Riders challenge “white only” rules at drinking fountains, lunh counters, and rest rooms in bus and train stations in the South.

• 1962 James Meredith, a black student, enrolls at the University of Mississippi under protection of federal troops.

• 1963 two hundred and fifty thousand people attend the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his “I have a Dream” speech.

• 1965 Riots erupt in Watts, a ghetto neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. • 1967 Thurgood Marshall become the first black Supreme Court justice. Riots occur in

Detriot and other large cities. The first black mayors of major US cities are elected in Cleaveland Ohio and Gary, Indiana.

• 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated. Riots erupt across the US.

Discussion before the Performance All Language Arts completes the following standards:

o Developing and using oral communication o Understanding and reading literary texts o Understanding and using informational texts o Building Better vocabulary o Developing written communication o Developing and using research strategies

All Social Studies meets the following standards:

o Understanding of different life around them and across the world o Understanding of different regions and human systems

All Theatre Activities meet the following standards:

– Connecting ideas and action


– Understanding characters Discussion Prompts

1. Is segregation still an issue is society today?

2. Is music still helping blur the lines between ethnic groups today?

3. Do you think the use of music to tell this story made it stronger?

4. Had you already seen the movie of Hairspray? Did it give you expectations for the performance?

Activities After the Performance Discussion Prompts

1. Did you understand the tension of the racial barrier in the story?

2. Have you ever experienced racial tension in your life?

3. What is your dream? What steps have you taken to achieve it?

4. Describe the good qualities of your favorite characters. How can you emulate them in your life?

Activities

1. Find songs that are done by artists that are similar to the musical styles in the musical.

2. Split into groups and list issues that you feel passionately about (much like Tracy’s dedication to Racial Equality) and discuss with the class.

3. Create your own dance step (i.e. “The Stricken Chicken”) and teach the class!

4. Pick an event on the timeline above and do more research on the people involved.


Resources Books

IN CIRCULATION AT CHARLESTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

The 1960s, Hurley, Jennifer A.

Sit-in : how four friends stood up by sitting down 1st ed. Pinkney, Andrea Davis.

Back of the bus Reynolds, Aaron.

Films

Hairspray (1988)—The original movie upon which the rest of the versions are based. Directed and written by John Waters

Hairspray (2007) the musical adaptation of the movie that slightly changed the story and added some new music Web Resources

http://www.hairsprayontour.com/

Follow the tour and look at pictures, videos and do the interactive activities.

www.theatremania.com

You can always check on this site to see if a production of Hairspray… is playing near you!

http://www.broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/hairspray.htm

The Broadway Musical Home – a wonderful resource with show information

www.ibdb.com

International Broadway Database: Infinitely valuable resource for any theatergoer…has ALL information about any production produced on a Broadway stage with cast and crew info as well as replacements and show dates.


http://www.musicalheaven.com/

Musical Heaven! Another all-inclusive musical theatre lovers’ website with show info ranging from original cast information to recording lists.

http://www.ticketsforschools.com/education_packs/Hairspray_Study_Guide.pdf

The Study Guide for the British Hairspray

Hairspray Study Guide

Documents

Transcript of Hairspray Study Guide