By Lucy Gellman
La’riah Norman rediscovered their inner child—and a rafter-raising voice bigger than their body. Kayleigh Householder landed her longtime dream role, and learned to speak truth to power along the way. Selena Zamora and Matthew Judd got the chance to be in the spotlight one last time, after Covid sidelined their high school theater debut freshman year.
They are all characters in Hairspray, running Tuesday through Thursday at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School in New Haven. Exactly three years after Covid shut down a production of RENT—and one after Sister Act rocked the school back to life—it has put both camp and a call for social justice center stage, with the dance moves and four-part harmonies to match.
It runs March 14 through 16 at the school, located at 177 College St. in downtown New Haven. Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for adults; “We wanted to do something that was joyful and fun and that we could get behind,” said director Rob Esposito, a veteran theater teacher at the school. “We lost some heavy hitters last year, and now we’re back.”
It’s a choice that feels at once gutsy and totally natural. For years, Esposito dreamed about producing Hairspray, but wondered whether the musical was the right fit for Co-Op. Set in early 1960s Baltimore, it follows Tracy Turnblad (Kayleigh Householder), a white, chubby high school student who dreams of dancing on the hairspray-fueled “Corny Collins Show” with heartthrob Link Larkin (Joseph Barrett) and petite and powdered archnemesis Amber Von Tussle (Payton Goodwin). While she watches it every day after school, her favorite episodes take place on a monthly “Negro Day,” helmed by Motormouth Maybelle (Samaia Brantley) and an all-Black cast of dancers.
Tracy has the moves, which she perfects in front of a black-and-white t.v. set with her friend Penny Pingleson (a sweet and punchy Lillian Palluzzi) after school. She has a vision for the future, which includes integrating the Corny Collins Show, and ending de facto segregation across the city. She has the style, a two-toned bouffant flip that makes her ready for prime time. And she has the friends, including Seaweed (Ali’jah Steed), his sister Little Inez (La’riah Norman), and a group of Black teenagers who become her friends and confidants.