With five sold-out shows and five standing ovations, the Wilmington College/Wilmington High School’s November production of the musical, Hairspray, literally ran the table with accolades.
PICTURED: “Corny’s Kids” surround Wilmington College sophomore Wyatt Henderson, the TV show host Corny Collins in the WC/WHS production of Hairspray.
Hairspray, the musical with a message, represented a special collaboration between WC and the high school featuring Wynn Alexander, professor of theatre, as producer and 2002 graduate, Bryan Wallingford, head of theatre at the high school, as director.
Alexander said he and Wallingford had been looking for a potential project in which the talent and enthusiasm represented at both WC and WHS could be successfully joined from both an educational and entertainment standpoint.
“We wanted to work together to create an educational opportunity for our students that was mutually beneficial and would allow us to create a piece of theatre that would showcase the talents of students from both institutions,” Alexander said.
Wallingford said Hairspray was the perfect vehicle in both size and scope, as it was clear that this was a “show that would challenge and stretch” the student actors, musicians and technicians.
“It was also clear that this was a show that could benefit from having the two groups work together,” he added. “We knew that Hairspray was not a show that either of us could do on our own. As the song says, ‘It takes two.’"
Alexander said they also thought the themes of this show would resonate with their students and audiences.
“Hairspray reminds us all that we are better as a community and a country when we come together to appreciate and celebrate our diversity, not allow our differences to keep us apart,” he said. “It also asks us to love and accept ourselves for who we are.”
