A musical about a pleasantly-plump teen who achieves her dream of dancing on a hit show then strives to integrate the cast during the 1960s, civil rights era, is going to debut at El Camino.
The broadway musical “Hairspray” directed by Luke Yankee, is a comedic musical that will also hit on the topic of racism.
Yankee is an author, producer, and director who has also directed the play ‘Noises Off’ at EC five years ago.
He discusses about the preparation of the cast and the mindset they had in performing the show.
“We have been been working for a month and a half now, and we talked about the style of the 60s, the fact that it was a simpler time,” Yankee said. “Yet not that much has changed unfortunately, in terms of race relations.”
Yankee also mentions that they wanted to stress the racial tensions in the 60’s and make the show a “rainbow experience” for the audience.
The musical is set in 1962 in Baltimore, in the midst of musical revolution as well as a social revolution.
Not only does it focus on racial tensions but also on societal norms as the character in the play, Tracy Turnbland is a plus-sized teen.
Taylor Cajka, 23, general studies major who is the stage manager for the play talks about what the main character faces throughout the story.
“They are certain social norms, like that whole ‘you don’t fit our cookie cutter shape of what we want’ and she is trying to break the barrier of that,” Cajka said.
Denzel Roseboro, 21, theater major says it took time a dedication to understand his character.
“He is essentially the cream of the crop in terms of his community but, he has a deep seeded depression regarding that era his only form of compensation for that is to dance his heart out,” Roseboro said.
Roseboro plays Seaweed, an African American dancer on the Corny Collins show.
Roseboro adds that he didn’t expect to get the role of Seaweed but, once the director showed interest in the role, he went for it and got the part.
He also was in EC’s previous play of “Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie.”
El Camino student Yolanda Pearson, 49, undeclared major said she wants to see how the school interprets Hairspray.
“I watched Hairspray when it first came out and it is such a classic,” Pearson said. “Now everyone is doing a rendition of the play and it’s going to be interesting to see how El Camino is going to do it.”
The first showing of the play will be on Saturday, May 6 at 8 p.m. in the Campus Theatre, Tickets are now available for purchase online and in person.
