Theater
Hairspray, the story of a spunky, bouffant-haired dance lover named Tracy Turnblad, begs for sets that are equally flamboyant. Challenged with turning the 1988 movie into a Broadway production, Rockwell Group captured the quirky humor of the story for a theatrical setting.
What if the set became a character?
Design challenges became opportunities to create larger-than-life musical numbers. Eighteen separate sets morph from one scene to the next with speed and energy.
The Formstone facades of Baltimore row houses are painted on flat screens.
Characters enter a record shop through a multicolored curtain of acrylic beads.
The show called out for the mentality of an architect.
Sets from a working-class living room to a record shop had to accommodate musical dance numbers and a full chorus of back-up singers.
The finale’s over-the-top Eventorium—with rocket-shaped arches and a stage framed by a red wig—references period architecture with the right amount of wit.
