Students to stage musical

Preparations are underway at Waupaca Middle School for this year’s musical production of “Hairspray, Jr.”

It will be performed at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 4; Thursday, April 7; and Friday, April 8, in the school’s Gerald C. Knoepfel Auditorium.

All seats are reserved.

Tickets are $5 and may purchased in advance or at the door.

People may reserve tickets in advance by calling the ticket hotline at 920-850-8580.

Ninety students, ranging in age from 11 to 14, will be performing the Broadway Junior version of “Hairspray” through Music Theater International.

The musical is directed and produced by Laurel Leder, Shana Rogney and Lori Jungers, with choreography under the direction of Molly Doray and additional drama coaching by Steve Wilson.

The show takes place in Baltimore in 1962.

Tracy Turnblad, a high school student, and her friend, Penny Pingleton, are big fans of the “Corny Collins Show.”

The show is Baltimore’s equivalent of “American Bandstand.”

Tracy has always wanted to become a dancer on the show, but is shunned because of her weight.

Link Larkin, the teenage heartthrob of the show, is also the heartthrob of Tracy.

When Tracy does make it onto the show, she works to integrate the program.

African Americans are not allowed to be on the show except on “Negro Day.”

When Tracy’s friend, Penny, falls head over heels for Seaweed Stubbs, an African American dancer and student, everyone begins to work with Tracy to change the “Corny Collins Show” into an integrated program.

Throughout the show, Tracy helps her mother, Edna, come into the 1960s, gets all the girls thrown in jail, falls in love and brings about acceptance no matter what size or color one may be.

The role of Edna is traditionally played on Broadway by a man, and the middle school will continue that tradition.