Good morning, Baltimore! It’s 1962 in a segregated state where teens of all races gyrate to the songs on WJZ-TV’s “Buddy Deane Show.” Except for their big hair, chubby girls and matronly mothers like Tracy and Edna Turnblad are out of the mainstream. But when Tracy wins a spot on the show and sets the wheels rolling to integrate it, even Edna bounces to the beat. Ushered into the spotlight more than two decades later by the pen of John Waters, the musical “Hairspray” became the toast of two Hollywood films, a Broadway smash replete with major awards and nonstop tours worldwide. This week, “Hairspray” dances into Signature Theatre starring erudite national radio host Robert Aubry Davis as Edna.
The explanation Davis gives for channeling Edna Turnblad begins in Canada with Eric Schaeffer, Signature’s artistic director and erstwhile art director at WETA-TV where Davis hosts “Around Town.”
| Onstage |
| ‘Hairspray’ |
| Where: Signature Theatre’s MAX Theatre |
| When: Monday to Jan. 29, 2012 |
| Info: $63-$87 and $30 student discount plus $22 first two Tuesdays at 703-829-9771 or signature-theatre.org. |
“Eric told me that a lot of names came up, but when mine was mentioned, everyone agreed I’d be perfect,” Davis says. “He claims I was at the theater attending a play, and when he mentioned that he wanted me to star in ‘Hairspray,’ I said, ‘You bet.’ ”
Davis reminisced about growing up during that desegregation period when the black and white teenagers could not dance together. Unlike “American Bandstand” broadcast in an integrated Philadelphia, Baltimore’s “Buddy Deane Show” set aside only every other Friday for the black dancers. As a sixth-grader, Davis had a similar restriction.
“I wanted to dance, but sixth-graders were permitted to attend only one night a month,” he said. “The more I thought back to those days, I realized there was a lot of depth to John Water’s story, and by the time I looked at John Travolta in the 2007 version, my eyes got wide. You have to be fat to know fat. John Waters weighs five pounds, but all around him then were a lot of issues of fatism as there are today. When I talk with women friends about playing the role, there are squeals of delight. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard them scream, ‘Oh my God, you’ll be perfect!'”
Convinced that he is somewhat portly, he agreed to subject himself to the rigors of becoming Edna Turnblad.
“My two outfits are a hausfrau dress and a fancy schmaltzy one. Little did I realize that shaving the underarms is required. Even though I’ve always used an electric razor on my tender beard, I learned while standing around in boxer shorts and titanic breasts during our girl talk Q&A moments that electric razors are not so good on underarms.”
Even with his costume traumas, Davis is having the time of his life breathing fun into a story about a troubling time in history that resonates with multigenerational audiences.
“Eric knows my personality, but he didn’t bother to ask me if I could sing,” he said. “Luckily, I used to be a choral singer and have a light, sweet folksy tenor. For this show, I’m trying to channel my inner Ethel Merman.”
