'Hairspray' adds sheen to Seattle

For the first time, the city is a proving ground for a big, Broadway- bound musical.

On a steamy Manhattan morning last month, a throng of theater folk crowded into a rehearsal hall near Times Square, in the heart of the Broadway show district.

The occasion? Opening day of rehearsals for a new $10.5 million Broadway musical comedy, "Hairspray," based on the popular 1988 John Waters film of the same title.

A few weeks after that convivial Times Square "meet and greet" session, the entire 75-member company made a sharp, unlikely — and historic — detour to Seattle ... where they are hard at work in the 5th Avenue Theatre, gearing up for the world premiere of a show they fervently hope will be Broadway's next blockbuster.

For the local theater world, it is a defining moment. When "Hairspray" begins its preview performances Thursday, it will mark the first time a top-dollar Broadway musical with high commercial expectations has held its sole tryout run in Seattle — or anywhere in the Northwest.

There is much riding on "Hairspray," a feel-good pop tuner about a spunky Baltimore teen who helps racially integrate a TV dance show in the early '60s.

There is that cool $10.5 million, of course, raised from more than a dozen backers — including some who hit the jackpot gambling on the current Broadway mega-hit, "The Producers."

Also at stake, though, is something less tangible: Seattle's future as a viable try-out city, where producers can hope to fine-tune a big-budget musical in relative peace, get credible, helpful feedback from patrons and critics, and end up with a better crack at Broadway glory.

And what's in it for Seattle?

A lot, according to 5th Avenue Theatre artistic director David Armstrong, who lobbied hard to open the show here.

" 'Hairspray' is a big world premiere, a huge project, something Seattle has never experienced before," says Armstrong. "It's a risk for our theater, because doing any new, untried show is risky. But we're giving local audiences a musical put together by an A-list team."

That team is dominated by major Broadway players, responsible for a wave of musical hits from "Annie" to "Aida."

"Hairspray" co-author Thomas Meehan wrote the book for "Annie" and co-wrote "The Producers," with Mel Brooks. Director Jack O'Brien won a 2001 Tony Award nomination for "The Full Monty." (Both "The Producers" and "Full Monty" come to Seattle this winter on tour.)

And though a relative Broadway novice, composer Marc Shaiman has had five Oscar nominations for his film music, including one for "South Park."

Armstrong says their participation, along with that of the show's co-star, noted actor-playwright Harvey Fierstein (who is in wigs and drag throughout the show, in the role Divine made famous in the film), "gets us more national exposure for Seattle. And it helps attract great shows and national talents here in the future."

Theaters in East Coast cities (Boston; Washington, D.C.) and farther west (Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego) already have track records test-marketing Broadway-bound musicals. The fact that Seattle is auditioning for this role now attests to the changing nature of Broadway production and to the city's burgeoning cultural profile.

Until fairly recently, explains Jed Bernstein, president of the League of American Theatres and Producers, Broadway shows were usually introduced, tested and revised in a network of towns nearer New York: New Haven, Boston, Philadelphia.

"For any number of reasons, mostly cost-driven, these opportunities have largely vanished," he said. "Now people are trying to find alternatives to the old system, and they're finding them in nonprofit theaters around the country, like the 5th Avenue."

At least one major tryout is considered essential for a musical of this scale.

"When you go out of town you want to learn something," says front-line "Hairspray" producer Margo Lion, a veteran whose producing credits include the Tony Award-winning "Jelly's Last Jam." "You want to listen to the audience and find out what you're doing right and wrong."

Adds lyricist Scott Wittman, "The audience always tells you what's working. Do they get the story? Are there laughs in the right places? You find out."

In order to have an audience, in effect, help work the kinks out of "Hairspray" before critics examine it, the 5th Avenue is presenting two full weeks of "preview" performances at slightly discounted prices, before the formal press opening of the show on June 14. That's standard practice for Broadway (where the show has a month of preview before opening Aug. 15), but not Seattle.

"There's a reason why there are so many previews of 'Hairspray' here," says Armstrong. "During a tryout, shows sometimes change on a nightly basis as the creators listen to the reactions and make alterations. Stephen Sondheim wrote the song 'Send In the Clowns' during a Boston tryout of 'A Little Night Music,' and it became the show's biggest tune."

Armstrong, a New York-based director before coming to Seattle two years ago, worked hard to book the "Hairspray" run. Looking for promising new musicals to showcase here, he attended a bare-bones workshop of "Hairspray" in Manhattan last year "and was bowled over by it." The producers considered unveiling the show in Baltimore or San Diego.

But co-producer Thomas Viertel says they were drawn to the 5th Avenue due to Armstrong's enthusiasm, and because his Broadway-sized, 2,100-seat theater is large enough to hold the show's sets. Also, he said, the 5th Avenue has the type of musicals-friendly audience they're trying to attract.

That includes a built-in subscribership of about 25,000 patrons who don't need to be lured in.

In fact, Seattle has already proven itself a good launching pad for smaller-scaled shows. Seattle Repertory Theatre has served as an incubator or tryout site for Broadway hits by such noted dramatists as Wendy Wasserstein ("The Heidi Chronicles"), Herb Gardner ("I'm Not Rappaport") and August Wilson ("Two Trains Running").

Intiman Theatre produced the world premiere of Robert Schenkken's Pulitzer Prize drama, "The Kentucky Cycle," which later went to Broadway, as did the musical "Jekyll & Hyde," seen in an early draft at the 5th Avenue in 1995.

Furthermore, the Broadway touring market has ramped up in Seattle lately, thanks to the renovation and revitalization of the 5th Avenue and the Paramount Theatre. And nationwide, Broadway-show tours sold more than $600 million worth of tickets during the past season.

"This is a vibrant business in over 100 cities across the country," says Bernstein. "Having a big musical open in your backyard can build enthusiasm for people here to visit Broadway, and for Broadway to come to your hometown."

And don't discount the power of Seattle's rising reputation among New Yorkers as a hip, unstodgy, theater-savvy, highly caffeinated city-of-the-future.

It is increasingly perceived as being wired into the national pulse — but far enough away to escape deep scrutiny by the East Coast press. (At a time when a big musical costs at least $10 million to underwrite, negative tryout reviews in New York papers can cast a big gloom over a Broadway opening.)

"Seattle is a great theater town," says "Hairspray's" Viertel. "You've got lots of good nonprofit theaters, two really robust touring houses, an enthused audience. And if you're going to spend seven weeks somewhere working on a show, you want it to be a fun place. I love that I can get in a car here and be in the Cascades in a half hour."

Visiting trendy nightspots such as the Baltic Room in his hours off, composer Shaiman says he keeps seeing "all these cool-looking people around and hoping they come to the show. They look like our kind of audience."

For Seattle's part, there are also immediate and potential longer-term financial benefits to "Hairspray" opening here. Though it will cost the 5th Avenue $1 million ("about what we spend on each of our shows anyway," Armstrong says), the theater will collect a weekly royalty check during the Broadway run and dividends if "Hairspray" turns a profit.

The tourist economy also benefits from having 75 out-of-town visitors (actors, designers, authors, even wigmakers) spending up to eight weeks in downtown hotels and Queen Anne rentals, buying meals and snacks, taking cabs, and all the rest. (Don't be surprised if you hear the frog-voiced Fierstein ordering a latte in line ahead of you.)

And Michael Killoren, director of cultural tourism for Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau, sees "Hairspray" drawing more visitors here.

He thinks West Coast fans of the movie will be eager to see how it transfers to the stage. And as many as 100 outside critics, producers, movie executives and other show-biz insiders are expected to fly in mainly to assess the show.

Dozens of local theater workers are getting extra employment on the production: seamstresses, pit musicians, stagehands. And numerous businesses are doing joint promotions for it, including a "Hairspray" window in Nordstrom's downtown store, featuring the musical's '60s-style pastel fashions and bouffant hairstyles.

As for the theater-goer, there's the chance to be among the first to see what might be Broadway's next smash hit — or next expensive bomb. And at $16 to $58, the 5th Avenue tickets are considerably cheaper than advance Broadway ducats for "Hairspray," which top out at $95.

"If this is a major hit, Seattle could wind up taking off as a tryout town the way Chicago did with 'The Producers,' " says Viertel. "That kind of success casts a nice glow."

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com.