Happy with Hairspray

COEUR d'ALENE - Patrick Treadway isn't the lead in "Hairspray" that opens Friday in Coeur d'Alene.

The Spokane man has the role of Wilbur Turnblad, father of heroine Tracy Turnblad, husband of Edna Turnblad, played by actor John Travolta in the silver screen version.

But it is, he says without a doubt, the perfect part.

"I am spoiled. I got probably the sweetest role in that everybody around me is working their butts off and I get to waltz in and say some funny things and sing one of the best songs and enjoy some beautiful music around me," he said with a smile.

Hairspray is a musical set in 1962 that tells the tale of Tracy Turnblad, who loves to dance and wins a spot on the local TV dance program, "The Corny Collins Show."

"Overnight she finds herself transformed from outsider to teen celebrity," a press release said. "Can a larger-than-life adolescent manage to vanquish the program's reigning princess, integrate the television show, and find true love (singing and dancing all the while, of course!) without mussing her hair?"

The show is being produced by the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre and directed by Kirk Mouser.

"Hairspray is a big Broadway musical," Mouser said. "It's got everything. It's got dancing, it's got energy, the comedy, so people are going to walk away really entertained.

"It's a real crowd pleaser."

The 2 1/2 hour production is more than just song and dance.

"As fun as it is, it's got some real social relevance as well that's under the surface," Mouser said. "You wouldn't think, Hairspray has social significant, but it really does."

There are the issues of racial tension, finding love and a young girl who is "large on exterior, beautiful inside."

"How do we look at the people we love? Mouser asked. "Do we base them on the color of their skin, their weight, on their sexual preference? Or do we base them on somebody that is sincere, genuine and somebody that we indeed love?

The musical is based in a time when the civil rights movement was gaining strength. Change was happening, President John Kennedy was in office, hope was high.

"We were living in this Camelot-esque world but under the surface of what we all grew up with in the '50s, where everything was one big happy family, underneath it all is that kind of seedy side," Mouser said.

"We see that, we laugh at it, we explore it in the show."

And when the audience walks away, they'll wonder, "What did I just laugh at?"

"This is one of the few musicals I've been part of that really has you thinking," Treadway said. "On the surface, laugh, fluffy, happy, but really there are deep issues you'll be talking about on the way home."

Tracy Turnblad is played by Lindsey Hedberg with Emily Schneider as the understudy. Schneider, a Lake City High graduate, has one confirmed performance on Aug. 12. Coeur d'Alene's Summer Theatre's Artistic Director, Roger Welch, plays the role of Edna Turnblad.

During John Travolta's most recent visit to Coeur d'Alene, he gave Welch some pointers on the character that Travolta portrayed in the movie version of Hairspray.

Treadway, who first worked with Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre in 1994, has been friends with Welch for years.

"I know my leading lady so well," he said, laughing.

"We've done so much comedy and improv together before, that it was really just an easy fit to work with Roger again," he said.

Mouser grew up in Portland, Ore. He spent 20 years in New York on his acting career, with roles in Broadway shows including "Jesus Christ Superstar."

He operated a theater company back east for five years before opening one in Portland that has done well. This is his third summer with the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre.

He believes Hairspray is going to be a terrific show with twists and turns.

"It's a happening. It's one of those shows you can't miss it. You've got to be here," he said.

Mouser promises the crowd will love it.

"They're going to laugh, they're going to cry and they're going to want to tease their hair."

If you go

Hairspray runs Aug. 7 to Aug. 21 at North Idaho College’s Boswell Hall Schuler Performing Arts Center, 1000 W. Garden Ave., Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. with matinee shows on Sundays at 2 p.m. Ticket prices: $39 for adults, $35 for seniors/students (with ID) and $25 for children (ages 6-12). Group prices available for 10 or more. Information: www.cdasummertheatre.com or call the Box Office at 769-7780