Grosse Pointe South’s all school musical “Hairspray” took visitors back in time to enjoy the magic of the Sixties: they experienced happy music, dancing people in colorful dresses and social issues like racism. This year’s Broadway musical was performed on April 27th to 30th at the Christian A. Fenton Performing Arts Center.

“Hairspray centers around a young girl named Tracy who wants to get on the Corny Collins Show and faces adversity because of her weight but that doesn’t stop her. She’s very eager to spread her joy and succeed no matter what’s going against her,” actress of Tracy Turnblad Cinderella Ksebati `17 said. “On the road she meets some black people and wants to integrate TV and have both black and white together to break the barrier. She ends up accomplishing this through the help of her new friends.”

The feedback from the audiences consisting of parents, siblings, teachers and members of the community was amazing, music director and producer Christopher Pratt said. “Each night that audience leapt to their feet in a standing ovation for the whole cast in the bows.”

Not only the producers but also the cast seems to be content with the show.

“I’m happy with how the performances went,” actor of council member Duane LaShun O’Rear `18 said. “It was an amazing effort from our dedicated cast and the crew.”

According to Pratt, they chose hairspray because they had the talent to pull the musical off in South’s student population. “We also thought the message racial and physical inclusion and recognition that differences are powerful and are positive.”

For this successful event, actors and singers rehearsed a lot. The students worked with drama director Meaghan Dunham on their acting and with music director Christopher Pratt on the music and begun auditioning and rehearsing in January, Ksebati said.

“For the last month and a half we’ve had rehearsals three to five times a week ranging from three hours to five hours per day,” Ksebati said. “It’s been tough but I really enjoyed it. Hairspray has been a great experience and I’m so honored and privileged to have been able to play Tracy in my last year at South.”

“The final product was indeed very much well-worth the effort,” music director Christopher Pratt said. “Our students really stepped-up and created something very special for a couple of thousand people to came to the show.”

Many teachers, students, parents and community members were involved in the production of the show.

“Thanks to Mrs. Dunham, Mr. Pratt, all the moms and everybody that worked to make this possible,” O’Rear said.