You can’t stop the beat coming from Buzz Aldrin Middle School, where the students have been busy each afternoon rehearsing and are excited to share their production of HAIRSPRAY Jr., set for this Thursday and Friday, March 30th and 31st.
This bouncy, bubbly musical takes place in early ’60s segregated Baltimore, and tells the story of Tracy Turnblad, a perennially cheerful, always upbeat though weight-challenged teen. Tracy’s greatest dream is to be one of the dancers on the Corny Collins Dance TV show — usually reserved for the perky, picture-perfect, high school “nicest kids” who get the most use out of the show’s sponsor — UltraClutch Hairspray. Tracy sets out to make her dream come true and in the process manages to integrate the show, unleash a wave of social change, and spur a lot of fantastic dancing!
The BAMS cast sings, acts and kicks up their heels to tell the story. Every student who auditioned for the play got a part. Director Karen-Ann Kaelin-Panico, who has directed the Mount Hebron/Buzz Aldrin shows for the last several years, views the play as a chance to teach the students about theater, not just put on a perfectly professional show.
The entire production is a learning opportunity for 11-, 12- and 13-year-olds. BAMS choral director Taylor Mandel, the play’s musical director, worked constantly with the kids to learn the songs and successfully corral changing soprano, alto, and bass voices into hitting the right notes. The stage crew, under the supervision of Broadcast Studio Instructor Brian Lacivita, works the lights, curtains, and sound. Other students, under the direction of set designer and teacher Shalini Taneja, created the scenery, mixing both the grittiness of early ‘60s segregation and the mod pop art explosion of candy colors that followed later in the decade. In all, about 120 students participate in putting the show together.
HAIRSPRAY is fast and funny, with 8th grader Ava Scandalios, a veteran of other BAMS productions, playing Tracy with a convincing mix of comic optimism and dreamy idealism. Apart from the acting and singing, the other standout is the dancing, under the direction of BAMS Dance Teacher Zetta Cool. Teaching children who aren’t necessarily dancers to strut their stuff is nothing new for Cool, whose dance classes at Buzz Aldrin are so popular she often teaches 200 girls and boys each year.
Cool’s choreography stamp is all over the show, as the whole cast shimmies and frugs through the 20 fast-moving dances of the times: the Twist, the Pony and the Madison. So much of the show is full of dancing that Panico has dubbed the choreographer, “Our own Queen Z.” And the dancing is frenetic and fantastic.
Directing the show is a labor of love for Kaelin-Panico, who’s got kids at Watchung School and Montclair High, but not at BAMS. She rehearsed with the students patiently and tirelessly, since November. With a host of parents helping out on costumes, props and kid-wrangling, Kaelin-Panico is the visionary tasked with coaxing performances out of often-distracted middle schoolers and realizing her vision of Hairspray onstage.
The result is a brightly colored, bold and funny confection: She describes it in her notes in the program as a gooey, delicious dessert shared by all: “a great big six-scoop ice cream sundae with butterscotch, lots of hot fudge, whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles and a cherry on top!” Hairspray is hard to resist. So grab your spoon and dig in!
The Buzz Aldrin Middle School Theater Department presents HAIRSPRAY Jr., this Thursday and Friday, March 30th and 31st, at 7 p.m. at Buzz Aldrin Middle School, 173 Bellevue Ave. Montclair. Tickets are available at the door: $10 for adults, $6 for students.