Setting the stage: ‘Hairspray the Musical’ kicks off North American tour at Weidner Center | WLUK
GREEN BAY (WLUK) — Get your big hair and dancing shoes ready, because “Hairspray the Musical” is kicking off the next leg of its North American tour Friday at the Weidner Center.
Broadway shows are typically about what happens on stage, but for now, the musical’s cast and crew are in Green Bay to focus on what happens before the first curtain goes up.
Hairspray on Tour actually arrived in Green Bay last Friday — one full week ahead of their performance — for a process called “remounting the show.”
In layman’s terms, that means rehearsing with new performers and backstage professionals, updating staging and lighting elements, and adjusting technical issues, all in an effort to ensure audiences get the best possible performance.
Organizers say the Weidner Center was selected as the production’s “home base” because of its size, technology, acoustics and staff.
“We learned the show in Florida, but it was a smaller venue. It was great to get a handle on the show and the part and everything. But coming to this beautiful facility and starting over, we have a nice rehearsal hall. I just love it. It’s beautiful here in Green Bay. What more could you ask for?” said Deidre Lang, the actress playing Motormouth Maybelle.
“It’s actually a common occurrence for a tour, when they’re tech-ing a show or trying to get it together, to come to a smaller city,” explained Leonard Sullivan, the tour’s associate director. “What it allows us to do, especially at a university, is have a great amount of space and a lot of crew available to us so that we can really work out the kinks in a way that isn’t a time-pressure cooker or really, really, really expensive,”
Lang told FOX 11 the part of the 45-stop tour she’s most looking forward to.
“Being able to make people out in the audience happy, singing and dancing. There’s something in the show for everybody. It’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry, it’ll make you happy, it’ll make you want to get up and dance, get up and sing,” she said.
Tickets for Friday’s 7:30 p.m. performance start at $68 and can be purchased online.
Source: Setting the stage: ‘Hairspray the Musical’ kicks off North American tour at Weidner Center | WLUK
