On Friday, February 19th, district superintendent Dr. Damaris Rau cancelled the production of Hairspray, the scheduled McCaskey spring musical. But while this ostensibly came out of the blue, it was the culmination of a whirlwind student campaign to raise concerns about the racial dynamics of the work. 

Auditions for the musical took place on Tuesday, February 16th. The following day, the callbacks list was posted, and many students were angry that some of their Latinx peers were called back for traditionally Black roles. A few students started a group chat on Instagram, adding everyone in the callback list to discuss their qualms about the choice of show and figure out what to do. Many students agreed that while they were eager to put on a musical, they didn’t want to participate in Hairspray.

Ruta Hailemichael, a senior, drafted an email to the musical’s directors explaining the students’ frustrations, and nearly everyone on the callbacks list signed. A Zoom meeting to discuss concerns followed, in which it was announced that the show was cancelled and director Mrs. Lakisha Welch, as well as music directors Mr. William Broaddus and Mrs. Colette Stephens clarified their vision for the production. 

Hairspray, which is set in 1960s Baltimore, chronicles the story of Tracy Turnblad, a peppy, plus-size teen who loves to dance and strives to integrate the Corny Collins show, the popular local dance program that is racially segregated. While Tracy is successful in her mission and the show ultimately excoriates racism, it relies on the white savior trope, in which a white person helps non-white people but often in a self-aggrandizing or condescending way that denies them their autonomy. Many students in the music wing referred to this paradigm, expressing discomfort with the fact that although Hairspray is a story about the Civil Rights Movement, the Black characters take a backseat, serving as passive props for Tracy’s character development. In real life, of course, it was Black people who led the fight for their own liberation. 

“The show has a striking theme of white saviorism that should not be promoted and completely invalidates the experience of the people of color the musical is based on,” said Esme King Martin, a sophomore and stage manager.

Jaden Kennett, a sophomore who loves to dance and auditioned for the part of Seaweed, Tracy’s friend who introduces her to Black music and culture, agreed. “The Black characters were written like they were solely reliant on the help of the white characters,” he said. 

While involved students had strong opinions, many articulated different ideas about whether the show should be cancelled, changed, or allowed to continue as written. “I wrote the original email against the production of the musical when the callback list came and I noticed the lack of actual Black people that would be in the lead roles of the show,” said Aleena Lyerly, a junior who is a member of stage crew and led the student effort to cancel the musical because of the overarching narrative and the racist lines in the script. “I was alarmed at the amount of microaggressions that the ‘white’ lead roles would have to say to their counterparts.”

But not everyone agreed that the racial dynamics in the show are problematic. “When you do a show like this, it points out how wrong people were for stereotyping and segregating Black people,” Mrs. Welch said in an interview.

And while some students were relieved that the show was cancelled, others lamented the loss of an opportunity to perform. “I’m honestly very sad. I feel like the show shouldn’t have been approved in the first place if it was just going to be taken away from us,” said Maddie Whitcraft, a junior. “Another disappointment after a disappointing year.”

Mrs. Welch released a statement to the Hairspray Schoology page in which she described her vision for Hairspray, emphasizing that the “show’s message is one of unity.” In it, she said: “My darlings, we know where we’ve been,” referencing one of the songs in the show. “We may not know where we are going, but I promise you that we will grow from this.” 

On Thursday, March 4, an in-person meeting was scheduled with students, staff, administrators, and Dr. Rau to facilitate an open dialogue about the show and begin that healing process. Everyone unanimously condemned social media comments attacking students and staff. (A short LNP article about the cancellation of the musical was published a few days previously, attracting a lot of community attention and combative comments on Facebook).

Many students shared their concerns, often via personal stories, and Dr. Rau advocated a vetting process for future musicals to ensure that students have input in the decision. Mrs. Welch described reforms she intends for a music program that is still rebuilding after a long-time former music director was convicted of several felonies relating to inappropriate sexual contact with a student. She proposed more discussion around the psychology of auditions and callbacks, instituting a dramaturgy program to research and provide context on McCaskey productions, and possibly conducting a read-through of future musicals with all of the students interested in auditioning.

The news of the cancellation of Hairspray spread throughout national theater circles, appearing on blogs such as Broadway World and Onstage Blog.

Clearly, the effects of our national discourse and reevaluation of problematic art, or as some call it, “cancel culture,” have brought on the downfall of sexually exploitive powerful men and the legacy of oppressive colonizers. It’s also brought concerns over the expansion of censorship. And like many discussions over what to keep, scrap, or reexamine in our cultural repertoire, the Hairspray discussion is far from black and white.

Indeed, while Hairspray suggests that racism is a problem of individual bigotry rather than systemic injustice, it also acknowledges the damage that racial exclusion from teen activities caused to young people – an issue that has been dismissed as frivolous or obscured by the many weightier evils of Jim Crow, such as voter suppression and segregation.

After a year of national reckoning over systemic racism, Hairspray could be the perfect show for the moment or a wildly inappropriate choice. We can’t sanitize our history, as Hairspray does, but we also can’t erase it. While the ramifications of this event continue to unfold, it’s clear that the discussions sparked around this work will resonate in the McCaskey theater world – and perhaps nationally – for years to come.