The Catskill Chronicle

Story and photos by Carol Montana

SOUTH FALLSBURG, NY (August 5, 2011) –Don’t you just love the summer?! It’s filled with all sorts of marvelous entertainments – local and regional concerts, art exhibit openings, dances, straight plays and musical comedies.

And now, thanks to the Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop, another wonderful offering has been added to that last category.

The musical “Hairspray,” based on the 1988 film, was written by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, with music by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman.

In 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, plump teenager Tracy Turnblad (played by the wonderfully talented Gabrielle Dworkin, photo left) has a dream to dance on “The Corny Collins Show,” a local TV dance program similar to “American Bandstand.”

Her mother, Edna, performed as is tradition by a male (in this case the awesome Joseph Gervais), fearful that her plus-sized daughter will be the object of ridicule, refuses Tracy’s request to audition for the show. And in a great musical number Tracy, along with her best friend Penny (played with drab precision by Heather Stevens, photo below along with the always-perfect Carol Scannell-MacAdam), and Amber, the main dancer on the show, (performed with snobby delight by Kristin Hackett), tell their mothers, “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now.”

Tracy’s father Wilbur (the perfect Sal Polichetti), approves, however, and Tracy and Penny audition.

After some roadblocks, like the rejection of the despicable racist producer Velma Von Tussle (played with scheming satisfaction by Ellen Pavloff), Tracy meets Corny Collins (the slick and multi-talented Scott M. Eckers, who also does the musical direction and lighting design for the show), and shows off the dance moves taught to her by Seaweed J. Stubbs (the very cool Walter Chisholm, photo left).

Getting a spot on the show, Tracy becomes an overnight celebrity, later turning the world upside down with her campaign to integrate the show.

Romance blooms with the show’s teenage heartthrob; the hairspray sponsor frets; the producer threatens to fire Corny; Tracy gets an endorsement contract; Edna, who hasn’t left her house in years, agrees to act as Tracy’s manager; Tracy organizes a protest to get the Black kids on the show more than just once a month on Negro Day; everyone gets arrested; and lots more merry mayhem ensues.

Throughout the show are standout numbers performed by standout performers such as the girl trio the Dynamites performed by Cici Patterson DaCosta, Crystal Tweed and Ebony Isaac (who is also one of the fantastic choreography team with Jane Lawsky and Kim Schneeberger); and one number between Wilbur and Edna sure to bring the house down, “You’re Timeless to Me” (photo left).

Director Lori Schneider-Wendt has crafted a cohesive, dynamic and fun musical that not only shows off the talents of its very large cast, pit band and crew, but also makes a very worthy comment on the politics of the 60s, and even those of today.

And while the Dramatic Workshop’s production won’t run for six years that it did on Broadway, you can catch this sure-to-be well attended show on Friday and Saturday, August 5, 6, 12, 13 at 8:00 p,m, and Sunday, August 7, 14 at 2:00 p.m. in the air-conditioned Nartoff-Wells Auditorium of the Rivoli Theatre, 5243 Main Street (Route 42), South Fallsburg.

Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for senior citizens and $10 for students with a valid student ID.  Tickets will be available at the box office one hour prior to curtain for each performance or can be purchased online at www.ShowTix4u.com.

For additional information, phone 845-436-5336, log onto www.scdw.net or visit Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop on Facebook.