Hairspray brings larger-than-life updos and campy songs to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, April 2 to 7
Broadway Across Canada presentation is helmed by same Tony Award-winning creative team from 2002 Broadway musical
Caroline Eiseman as Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray. Photo by Jeremy Daniel
Broadway Across Canada presents Hairspray from April 2 to 7 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, with showtimes at 2 pm, 7:30 pm, and 8 pm
“HEY MAMA, WELCOME to the ’60s!”: Hairspray is making its epic return to Vancouver this spring in a five-day-long Broadway Across Canada presentation at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. The Tony Award-winning musical is by now familiar to audiences around the world—case in point, its reputation as one of the highest-grossing musicals of all time, at over $250 million.
Tracy Turnblad’s story of optimism and individuality was originally told in John Waters’s 1988 film, which was adapted into a Broadway musical in 2002. Another film directed by Adam Shankman was released in 2007, featuring Nikki Blonsky as Tracy and a star-studded ensemble including John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Zac Efron, and more.
In the plot set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, plus-sized high-school student Tracy dreams of dancing on local TV program The Corny Collins Show. She soon seizes an opportunity to audition and gets cast in a lead role, becoming an overnight sensation. With the help of her newfound fame and friendships, she sets out on a mission to bring racial integration to the show.
Hairspray is chock-full of camp, comedy, and cheer, marked by larger-than-life hairdos and brightly colourful outfits. The upcoming Queen Elizabeth Theatre show is put together by a creative team led by director Jack O’Brien and choreographer Jerry Mitchell—the same crew from the original Broadway production, which won eight Tony Awards.
From “Good Morning Baltimore” to “You Can’t Stop the Beat”, there’s an abundance of catchy tunes in store during the show. It clocks in at two-and-a-half hours, with one intermission. 
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