Drake Singer Nothing but Smiles and 'Hairspray'

Meeting Christina Euphrat happened in a flash. She entered the room, beaming a hello with a big smile. Being very interested to see how this dynamic 15-year-old performer would make the transition from Drake High teen to 1950s Baltimore teen, we sat down at the Aqua Hotel one evening to chat before the Mountain Play began its introduction to the community of their 2011 show, Hairspray.

Christina had energy to spare -- important for the role of Shelley in the John Waters musical inspired by an actual television show called The Buddy Deane Show originating in Baltimore.

This experience, being a part of a historic event in a classic show, has brought the Drake student to a new level in her acting. She couldn’t stop talking about how lucky she felt to be in such a professional production. She proudly boasted about her lines, which she was reading with a sort of bimbo slant. In the show, she is part of the girl group referred to as Council Members.

Christina, whose favorite class is Spanish, plays the part of Sherry, the best pal of Tracy Turnblad -- done superbly well by Kimmie Swanson from Novato High Marin School of the Arts. Christina sees her character as being a bit ditzy, wearing her orange striped outfit with huge buttons.

The 2011 selection for this year's Mountain Play premiered last weekend on Sunday, May 22 with a great deal of 1960s energy, crayon-colored costumes and sets, thoughtful direction and “Afro-tastic” dance numbers that got everyone moving to the beat, including the director James Dunn.  

Hairspray has never been presented before as the Mountain Play and it has turned out to be a fantastic choice to encourage families with children to join in this 98th year of the Mountain Play.

When I arrived at Hairspray's final dress rehearsal on May 21, it was a perfect Marin-weather day. Dunn announced that if needed, he would stop the show, since the run-through we were about to see was really the last dress rehearsal before the big day. This was his last chance to pull it all together. All of us secretly wanted the show to stop so we could observe Dunn in action. But, it was not to be; the show was not stopped at all.

These pros ran through the production with no problems and it was jam-packed with great dancing, clever acting, bold sets, costumes and high-level performers. Hairspray was filled with great energy from the get go through a variety of dance numbers and multi-rhythmic music.

Choreographer Rick Wallace has woven together what seemed like 20 dance numbers filled with so many types of choreography it's hard to keep them all straight. Any dance piece that included the Record Shop Kids was guaranteed to be one of the most vibrant of the show. Their multi-leveled numbers were filled with jive, bee-bop, jazz, twirls, funk and plenty of bumps. The colors jumped around the stage with each change of crazy fun set pieces.

And, I'm not the only one who thinks it was a great choice for the annual production. Ticket sales are up 15 percent according to Executive Director Sara Pearson.

Christina stood out in all her incarnations, but was especially a hoot in the beehive hairdo she balanced towards the end of the show. That do had its own zip code about two-feet above her head. She danced, acted and sang with the cute girl gang she “rumbled” with. They were a catty group that had the most insane lines in the show. Led by Velma Von Tussle, played brilliantly by Susan Zelinksky, the group paraded around the stage singing and moving the show with their manicured acrylic nail. The ditzy girl group kept it all light, continually reminding us that Hairspray is a comedy despite the themes of racism running throughout the show. And the local singer clearly enjoyed being on the stage -- eking out smiles at every possibility.  

Absolutely not to be missed in the cast is the amazing Carol Thomas, who plays Motormouth Maybelle. Be prepared to have chills run up and down your spine when she sings every song give to her.

Take the hike up to the Mountain Play and don't miss this fun 'do. You won’t need your hairspray, the breeze shouldn’t ruin your hair.

Get more information and tickets at mountainplay.org. Shows are at 2 p.m. May 29, June 5, 11, 12 and 19.