PA School Superintendent cancels musical 'Hairspray' after concerns about insensitive language

The cast of ‘Hairspray (Photo: Ellie Kurttz)

News is coming out of Lancaster, PA today that the Superintendent canceled an upcoming high school production of the musical “Hairspray” over alleged complaints about insensitive language in the script.

McCaskey High School students hoping to perform the show this May are disappointed to see that Superintendent Damaris Rau pulled the plug on the show, just over a week after auditions were held.

Ms. Rau told local news,

“This is not the appropriate time to put on a musical like this,” Rau said, referring to the racial strife over the summer as well as the mental health impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on children.

“Kids are too raw” right now, she said.

Ms. Rau explained that after she had received an email written a group of students to the principal describing their concerns, she read the script herself and made the call to cancel the show and advise the directors to change the show.

While the email won’t be released to the public, Ms. Rau said that the group of students expressed concern over the play’s derogatory language in describing Black and Hispanic people and people with disabilities.

Based on the 1988 film by John Waters, “Hairspray” is the story of Tracy Turnblad, a teenager with dreams of dancing on The Corny Collins Show, though her reality looks more like daily detention. But when Tracy gets a shot at fame, she begins to fight against the barriers of representation present in the television industry of 1962.

The musical itself made news last year when after a report by this site on casting loopholes that allow for all-white productions, creators of the show took action and made it a requirement that the show is cast as written - with Black performers portraying the Black characters.

Also, the show has been the center of discussions surrounding “white savior” tropes in entertainment and whether or not it portrays the civil rights movement correctly. However, given the reignition of the Black Lives Matter movement and theatre programs’ newfound call to diversify their stages, “Hairspray” is bound to be near the top of every school’s list for their production choice.

In my opinion, I would have liked to have seen the students perform the show. While it’s not a perfect show, it does promote messages of equality and that racism has no place in our society. Does the show contain offensive language? Yes, although I don’t know where there is insensitive language in the show regarding Hispanic people or people with disabilities.

But the show also makes the point that language like that is wrong. There aren’t a lot of high school-appropriate shows that teach those lessons, so this would have been a great opportunity. Especially for a diverse school like McCaskey which reportedly had over 30 BIPOC students audition for the show.

I feel the same way about other shows that contain slurs and derogatory terms, such as “Ragtime”, to illustrate how wrong and hurtful those words are.

Since the announcement has been made, the chatter on social media has been busy. While many are supporting the decision and praising the students for coming forward, others are point to this as another example of “cancel culture”. There are even comments saying that the email came from students who auditioned but weren’t cast in the show.

Either way, I think it’s a shame that the production won’t go forward. After over a year of not having any theatre, this isn’t a time to cancel shows for questionable reasons.