Stockton Civic Theatre

Begin­ning Wednes­day, Novem­ber 16, and run­ning through Sun­day, Decem­ber 11, 2011, Stock­ton Civic The­atre will present HAIRSPRAY, a musi­cal com­edy with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wit­man and Mark Shaiman and a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Mee­han, based on the 1988 John Waters film “Hairspray.”

Fea­tur­ing 1960’s-style dance music and “down­town” rhythm and blues, the show is set in 1962 Bal­ti­more, Mary­land, where plump teenager Tracy Turnblad’s dream is to dance on “The Cor­ney Collins Show,” a local TV dance pro­gram.  When she wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight and launches a cam­paign to inte­grate the show.  “Hair­spray” is a social com­men­tary on some of the injus­tices of 1960 Amer­i­can society.

The show is directed by James Reed who made his direc­to­r­ial debut at SCT direct­ing the 2010 pro­duc­tion of “Joseph and the Tech­ni­color Dream Coat.”  He pre­vi­ously chore­o­graphed  SCT musi­cals and served as assis­tant direc­tor.  He has cast Katy Uyeno in the lead role of Tracy Turn­blad.  From Modesto, and active in Modesto Per­form­ing Arts, she says this is her “dream role.”  This is her first appear­ance on the SCT stage.

Audi­ences will not be dis­ap­pointed with the role of the mother, Edna Turn­blad, always played by a male actor, now played by SCT’s own Artis­tic Direc­tor, Jim Cole­man.  Prior to join­ing SCT, Cole­man lived and worked in New York for 27 years.  Among his many pro­fes­sional Broad­way cred­its, he was musi­cal direc­tor for “Sweeney Todd” and “Mame” with Angela Lans­bury, and “Any­thing Goes” with Patti Lupone.

Reed also cast Lanita Tay­lor, last seen in “Hats,” as Motor­mouth May­belle, and SCT vet­eran Melissa Esau, last seen in “42^nd Street,” as Velma, the hard­nosed tele­vi­sion stu­dio director.

The musical’s orig­i­nal Broad­way pro­duc­tion opened on August 15, 2002, and won eight Tony Awards.  It ran for 2,579 per­for­mances and closed on Jan­u­ary 4, 2009.  The show also had national tours, a Lon­don West End pro­duc­tion, and numer­ous for­eign pro­duc­tions and won the Olivier Award for Best New Musi­cal, and was adapted into a block­buster film in 2007.

Spon­sored by Chase Chevro­let, “Hair­spray” fea­tures a $15 per seat pre­view on Wednes­day, Novem­ber 16, at 7:30 p.m.  A recep­tion for open­ing night patrons catered by Kinder’s will be held on Fri­day, Novem­ber 18, at 6:30 p.m.  Per­for­mances con­tinue through Sun­day, Decem­ber 11, on Thurs­days, Fri­days and Sat­ur­days at 7:30 p.m., and Sun­days at 2:30 p.m.  There will be a spe­cial mati­nee per­for­mance on Sat­ur­day, Decem­ber 10^th at 1:00 p.m., with no per­for­mance on Thanks­giv­ing Day.

Tick­ets are $25 for adults, $21 for seniors, and $15 for stu­dents and chil­dren 12 and under.   The show is rated PG-13.

The the­atre is located at 2312 Rose Marie Lane, Stock­ton.  For tick­ets call the SCT Box Office Tues­day through Fri­day, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at (209) 473‑2424, or go online at sctlivetheatre.com.

The mis­sion of Stock­ton Civic The­atre is to offer afford­able, qual­ity pro­duc­tions, adult and youth edu­ca­tion, col­lab­o­ra­tive out­reach pro­grams and pro­mote involve­ment with our diverse community.

The Plaids — Jacob Bron­son as “Jinx”; Joe Toon as “Smudge”; Eddie Har­g­reaves as “Sparky” and Rodrigo Cortes as “Frankie.”

With a Wednes­day evening Pre­view at 7:30 p.m. and a gala open­ing night on Fri­day at 6:30 p.m., Stock­ton Civic The­atre is ready for a suc­cess­ful four week run of For­ever Plaid, the off-Broadway sen­sa­tion of 50s hits now play­ing around the world.

For tick­ets, call the SCT Box Office at (209) 473‑2424 or check out the online box office at www.sctlivetheatre.com. The 2312 Rose­marie Lane Box Office is open 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Tues­day through Fri­day and to hours before shows. Tick­ets are $25 for adults, $21 for seniors, and $15 for stu­dents and chil­dren. The show is rated G for all audi­ences. Don’t miss it!

Left to right, Jacob Bron­son as Jinx; Joseph Toon as Smudge; Rodrigo Cortes as Frankie; Eddie Har­g­reaves as Sparky, and SCT Artis­tic Direc­tor Jim Cole­man at the piano.

The story goes like this: the young all-male quar­tet is on the way to their first gig at a Hilton Hotel lounge when they are killed in an auto acci­dent. Some­how, how­ever, they receive a heav­enly oppor­tu­nity to return to earth and have a sec­ond change to make their show biz pre­miere in FOREVER PLAID, run­ning Sep­tem­ber 7 thru Octo­ber 2 at Stock­ton Civic The­atre. The show is being directed by Coraleta Rogers with chore­og­ra­phy by Melissa Esau. Don’t miss FOREVER PLAID and its won­der­ful 50s era music!

Tick­ets are now avail­able at the the­atre Box Office, (209) 473‑2424, or online 24/7. The Box Office is open Tues­day through Fri­day 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and two hours before shows.

–Jim Tre­ganza