The eight-time Tony Award-winning musical comedy is part of Sun National Bank Center’s first “Broadway in Trenton” series. The series began in November with Rain, A Beatles Experience, and concludes in March with Jesus Christ Superstar, starring Broadway veteran Ted Neeley.
But in Hairspray, it was Morris County native Danielle Arci who stole the show. Arci stars as the pleasantly plump, uber-hyper Baltimore teen Tracy Turnblad, whose sole desire is to dance on the fictional 1962 TV program The Corny Collins Show. When Tracy lands her gig on the show, she is able to show off her provocative dancing (and fabulous “do!”), but is faced with the even greater challenge of integrating the show to include her African American friends.
Born in Boonton and currently living in Morristown, Arci is a graduate of the Academy for Visual and Performing Arts in Denville. She says being part of this tour is her “dream role.”
Keeping up with Arci’s dancing feet and powerful voice is co-star Richard Crandle, who plays the smooth talking and grooving Seaweed J. Stubbs. A student at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, Crandle lives in Cherry Hill.
Rounding out the Jersey cast members are Benjamin J. McHugh of Jersey City and Shelese Franklin of Phillipsburg. McHugh, a native of Australia, stars as cheesy television show host Corny Collins, while Franklin, originally from Piscataway, plays Pearl.
If you missed the show in Trenton, don’t worry. You can catch it on January 21 at the Mayo Center for the Performing Arts in Morristown, its last stop in New Jersey before continuing a nationwide tour through the end of April.
These New Jerseyans know how to jive on this tour of Hairspray. They will have you laughing, swooning (that teen heartthrob Link Larkin is dreamy!), and dancing along in the audience. So, go ahead and let your hair down.