Half of Hairspray

We just finished watching the first half of a live performance of Hairspray. The children could not sit still for the whole thing so it was time to go home. This was probably one of the most interesting experiences I have had, and relevant for Martin Luther King Day weekend.
The plot of course is about the 60's and dancing and kids wanting to dance on an integrated show.
The last scene before we left the police go to break up protesters.
"Why did the police did that?" asked Noah. Well the answer to that is complicated.
But what made this particular version of Hairspray doubly interesting was that it was put on at Showa. So most of the cast were female students who are from Japan, and have come to Showa to learn some English for 6 months before returning to Japan. To put that in perspective, these are not theater students, or students that went to international school or a prep school in the states or even regular college in the states.
They can read and write very well but speaking is still difficult. So that's why doing a musical would help them project and speak loudly, etc.

To be honest, I could not understand most of what was said. But hey, this play is not really put on for me, or even for just the entertainment of the audience. It is an exercise in getting students to be more confident about speaking English.

And the actresses were definitely confident. Their singing and dancing was pretty good and I will say that I enjoyed the half that I saw even if Noah kept trying to cover my eyes for some reason.

It sort of put the protests of 2015 in a new perspective to see a mostly Japanese cast in  a play about integration of a tv show in the 1960's.

I mean I felt all kinds of awkward on all sorts of levels. And I think that's great. Plus even though the kids were fidgety I think they enjoyed the experience.