Hairspray Archives - Dangerd https://dangerd.com/tag/hairspray Stagehand: A Backstage Pass to my Life Stories. dangerd.com - Created with WordPress managed by IONOS Mon, 26 Jan 2026 20:23:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://dangerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/cropped-Site_Logo_64x64-32x32.webp Hairspray Archives - Dangerd https://dangerd.com/tag/hairspray 32 32 Hairspray https://dangerd.com/hairspray Mon, 20 May 2024 07:31:12 +0000 https://dangerd.com/?p=2036 We recently worked on the touring version of the musical Hairspray. My job on the show was working with the prop crew. The props lead for the company, Abbie Garrison (everyone just calls her by her last name) was friendly and easy to work with, which made my days easy. That’s not to say it […]

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]]> We recently worked on the touring version of the musical Hairspray. My job on the show was working with the prop crew. The props lead for the company, Abbie Garrison (everyone just calls her by her last name) was friendly and easy to work with, which made my days easy. That’s not to say it wasn’t busy- this was one of the busiest shows I have worked in a while for the props and carp crews (who in addition to running the rail also push scenery on and off stage).

A stagehands view of the stage.
A stagehands view of the stage.
Tracy Turnblad's bedroom overhead view from opening scene of Hairspray
Tracy Turnblad’s bedroom overhead view from opening scene of Hairspray
The orchestra pit from stage.
The orchestra pit from stage.
They look 3D but but they'rec alled flats for a reason.
They look 3D but but they’re called flats for a reason.

Here’s an example of stagecraft trickery. How something flat looks 3D.

The amount of wigs and wardrobe on the show is also incredible. 

The wig room.
The wig room.

The cast was friendly and also quite talented. Their acting and dancing skills showed on stage but the most impressive thing about them was their singing. One of the best things about working a Broadway-type musical show is standing in the midst of the chorus while they sing the songs from the wings (at least when they’re good!).

I had the pleasure of meeting the actress Caroline Portner when she missed the cast bus to the hotel at the end of the first night. I waited with her outside until her Uber arrived. Funny thing is I didn’t know what character she played due to everyone wearing elaborate wigs and costumes in the show. I found out the next day she was one of the lead characters. Caroline is a super nice person but in the show she plays the mean girl, a sign of a really good actress.

Me with actress Caroline Portner as Amber Von Tussel in Hairspray on tour.
Me with actress Caroline Portner as Amber Von Tussel in Hairspray on tour.

This production brought four fully loaded semi trucks (road cases stacked 3 high), so fitting everything into our theater was pretty tight. Myself and some of our other house crew had to work with the touring crew to use the stacking motor in our shop to un-stack road cases at the load-in and re-stack everything at the load-out.

The stacking motor runs on an I beam for maximum convenience.
The stacking motor runs on an I beam for maximum convenience.
We're lucky our motor is controlled by a wireless remote.
We’re lucky our motor is controlled by a wireless remote.

Unfortunately a lot of the company’s road cases were in bad shape, which sometimes made this difficult. (Likewise The set pieces were also in pretty bad shape). We would tell the crew, ”You ought to fix that,” to which the typical response was, “It’s just gotta last another 5 weeks!”

I don’t envy their crew for the next five weeks, but at least they all work well together and have fun. Overall, working with them was a pleasure; they were good people, and their cast was talented.

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