'Hairspray' gives Ruth Eckerd a spritz

By Times Staff Writer
Published November 22, 2007

First, it was a cult classic flick, then it was a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, then it was a big-budget movie musical starring John Travolta. Now Hairspray is back on a bay area stage. The musical tale of a girl who strikes a blow for civil rights while hardly mussing her big bouffant 'do stops at Ruth Eckerd Hall for three shows on Friday and Saturday.

As the curtain rises, 16-year-old Tracy Turnblad is trying to dance her way onto 1962 Baltimore's top teen TV show. From there, the show "doles out insanely huge helpings of energetic songs, colorful sets and good vibes that leave you smiling long after you leave the theater, and might even help renew your hope in good old-fashioned American musical," Marty Clear wrote in the St. Petersburg Times last year after reviewing the tour's stop at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

Showtimes are 8 p.m. Friday and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday at Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater. Tickets are $47-$67. Call (727) 791-7400 or go to www.rutheckerdhall.com.

[Last modified November 21, 2007, 11:18:37]