John Waters’ cult classic film “Hairspray” was released in 1988, a PG-rated departure from his X-rated catalogue. It was billed as “the ‘60s comedy that shows no mercy,” but in the years since the writer, director and LGBTQ icon has christened it “the gift that keeps on giving.”
That’s because it was adapted for Broadway in 2002, where it won eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, and once again in 2007 for the silver screen. NBC subsequently presented “Hairspray Live!” in 2016 and last month, Broadway’s creative team reunited to launch a new national tour.“Join 16-year-old Tracy Turnblad in 1960’s Baltimore as she sets out to dance her way onto TV’s most popular show,” its synopsis reads. “Can a girl with big dreams (and even bigger hair) change the world?”
Its latest iteration is led by Andrew Levitt, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum Nina West. He plays Tracy’s mother Edna, following in the footsteps of drag legend Divine, who originated the role on film and Broadway mainstay Harvey Fierstein, who brought her to life onstage.
Watermark spoke with Levitt ahead of the tour’s sole stop in Tampa Bay or Central Florida at Lakeland’s RP Funding Center on Dec. 27 about all things “Hairspray,” “Drag Race” and Nina West.
WATERMARK: What drew you to the stage?
Andrew Levitt: I remember the first time I saw the national tour of “CATS,” when I was maybe four years old. I was so mystified by it and deeply impacted. I think that’s kind of where I started to have my first love of theater, or at least live performance, but I grew up in a house where music was always playing. My grandparents and my parents were always playing cast recordings and soundtracks. I just had a vast, wide exposure to the arts.
How did that help shape who you created in Nina West?
Oh my God. I think I was meant to be in this world because it still informs me to this day. One of my earliest Nina West performances was to “The Nutcracker Suite” and it was me getting ready for the day and all pantomime. I was getting in the shower – the water was too cold and then the was too hot – and then I was shaving. It was all this pantomime in a matter of three minutes, no lip sync. I don’t know who I thought I was. (Laughs.) It’s informed everything that I’ve done in drag and been pivotal to how Nina has come into being.
How does your approach to Nina differ from your approach to live theater?
I stepped so far away from the world of live theater for such a long time. I’ve done drag for almost 21 years now. I got my degree in theater and had every intention of being a theater performer and drag kind of found me. I didn’t resist and I went in a different direction – and with drag, I am calling the shots in a very different way. I’m the writer, the director, the producer. I’m the sole funder and beneficiary of the work that I’m doing and the character is mine and mine alone. She’s informed by a lot of different things and there might be some collaborative work on different pieces of art, but at the end of the day, I’m the one who’s ultimately responsible for whatever I put on stage.
With theater and now with “Hairspray,” it is formed by communal work, which is all very different. My character is coming from a variety of sources, more than just myself; it’s coming from the script that has been labored and poured over and edited within an inch of its life, and every beat and every word is chosen decisively. So the work is much more decisive and living and breathing, just like drag, but I think the endgame is the same – to tell a story and to move people in different ways.
When did you first become familiar with “Hairspray?”
The first time I saw “Hairspray” was in 1988, the original John Waters film. I have two older sisters and my sister Emily is six years older than me – I was 10 and she was 16 – she had the soundtrack. I remember rocking out to the music of the original film, which was a huge cultural movie and moment. I remember seeing it and being hugely impacted by it … I don’t even think that I knew Divine was a man. I think I was just blown away by the mystery and wonder of it all.
Why do you think it resonates with LGBTQ audiences?
John Waters is a huge part of that formula and then we have it carry through with our cultural lexicon with Divine. Then the musical happened with a predominantly queer team … all queer titans in my opinion. There is a subversiveness to it that helps speak to the language, I think of our own struggle and our own journey. I’m not saying it’s at all the same experience to the civil rights journey … but I do think there are a lot of things that speak to our community as well, in this desire and need to want to be seen and to want to be celebrated for who we are too.
What’s it like to follow in the footsteps of Divine and Harvey Fierstein?
It’s overwhelming, there’s no lie there. I feel the enormity and the weight of it, because I just I want to be able to celebrate the work that they’ve done and to be able to carve my own path with it. We have to believe Edna is a woman through and through who wants the best for her daughter, but there’s something so fabulous and wonderful about it being played by Divine in the film, and Harvey in the stage version, and why is that? Why is that important to the storytelling? Because it is! I couldn’t tell you why it’s important, but it is important, because it is the power of theater and the willing suspension of disbelief, but it also speaks to how intrinsically queer this piece of theater is.
How did you approach the role?
I love the work of Divine, I am so enamored with Harvey Fierstein, and I’m a very different type of person than both of them as an artist and as an entertainer. All I’m trying to do is inform my Edna to my best ability. I think there are shadows and celebrations of each of their performances in mine.
But also I’m trying to make sure that she is breathing and living in this moment right now, in this moment which resonates with our audiences today. I think that’s what they’ve each done with their performances; I think that’s the job. I really hope I succeed. (Laughs.) It is a Herculean task that I couldn’t say no to … I’m really grateful that of all the people that could have asked, they asked me. I know that I can do this and I’ve got to trust that they also know what they’re doing. They trust me and so I get to make some really big moves and decisions based on that.
Is this the first tour that you’ve gone on as Andrew?
Yes! It sure is. (Nervous laughter.) It is my first professional, national tour that is non-drag related. I’ve done tours around the world thanks to “Drag Race,” but nothing like this.
For longtime fans of “Hairspray,” why is this production a must see?
First of all, because we’re getting the opportunity to return to live theater. For many of us we’re having careers and lives reinstated by returning to the arts … it is a true celebration of a return to life and to things that are intrinsically important to our culture.
Secondly, this production has been updated and has evolved to speak more to the time. I think that is also powerful. We also all deserve a moment to take a step back to celebrate, breathe and exhale. Just not on each other! (Laughs.) We have a need to take a step back after these 18 months and just let out a collective breath, return to the theater and celebrate one of the best scores and books ever written for the American stage.
What are your hopes for the tour?
That because of their exposure to me on “Drag Race” I’m going to bring a younger generation to this show that have never heard it. Hopefully they’re going to say “Oh, well I found Nina on ‘Drag Race,’ so I want to see Andrew in ‘Hairspray.’” That’s my hope because I think that this show, for anyone who’s unfamiliar with it, is a show filled with hope, a show built on joy and a show that’s wrapped in love. I just don’t know what we all need more now than that. I really don’t.
That seems to be a lot of your focus since “Drag Race.” What have your experiences since then taught you?
The show is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done, personally or professionally. I’m still defined by my time on the show almost four years later and it has opened me up to an entire world that
I never thought possible. I am so grateful to work, to do the things that I love and share my story, share my heart and share my message. I’ve learned that I am fallible … and that I too can fly, flourish and find joy in my moments of true honesty. I have a truer sense of who I am now than I ever have and I’m 43 years old and I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I thought I had all the answers and I don’t. The best part about it is that after this experience, and after experiencing so much life in especially the last three years, I am okay with not having them.
I think every person who does drag should not sleep on the opportunity to audition for things like this and put themselves forward, knowing that there’s a whole other side to it that you have to be prepared for.
What’s surprised you about the experience?
The one thing I was unprepared for was how much it was going to take a toll on me personally, but I’m on the other side of that now. I am on the other side and I can’t stress enough the importance of mental health, care, surrounding yourself as a really small, tight network and also trusting yourself. I think the show is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done and I would do it again in a heartbeat, but I learned a lot in the time period between when we were done filming and before we aired and then from the time we aired until our finale, I learned even more. You get a whole education from the fans after, good and bad, and you just go with it and try to stay focused on what your hopes and goals are for your career and for the things you want to accomplish.
You’ve accomplished quite a bit, reaching audiences of all ages through partnerships with Nickelodeon and Disney. What draws you to projects like these?
Before I was ever on “Drag Race,” this is who I was. I have a charitable foundation and have done years and years of work within my own community back in Columbus, specifically regarding LGBTQI+ rights, specifically for our youth and that demographic. What I know is that I was saved by seeing someone who was like me, by knowing that there was there was somebody else out there who was a little bit more effeminate; a sissy boy who didn’t fit in.
When I saw myself, I felt safer. Not to say I felt safe, or that I was safe, but I felt like there was something else out there other than my small town, conservative life with my family. I felt like there was hope for me. I am just speaking to what speaks to me, the things I love. I am a big kid at heart. I love Disney. I grew up watching Nickelodeon and “Pinwheel” and “Today’s Special.” This is my language and this is what I speak fluently and clearly.
It’s not fraught with its own challenges and criticism from within the LGBTQI+ community and outside of it, because there are people within the community who feel like I am dumbing down drag or I’m making drag too palpable for families. And I just highly disagree with them.
Why?
I think drag is at its core is punk. I think it is revolutionary. It is one of the last true art forms that exists that’s now becoming very pervasive in popular culture, our lexicon and how we speak to one another. I believe that by someone like me working in the children’s space and trying to reach all ages and demographics, I don’t know what is more punk, and what is more revolutionary and more thoughtful. The art form can really challenge people to rethink who they are and what they believe in. Drag has the power to do that in this way and manner.
It’s super frustrating that I have people within the LGBTQIA+ community telling me that I am selling out and then I’m a target for the religious right, where people are showing up at my house and putting signs in my yard and leaving things in my mailbox. That’s the reality with which I find myself but it’s not going to deter me. It’s not going to change who I am, what I believe in and the things I think should be celebrated.
What keeps you motivated?
I believe that through and through, people deserve to see themselves and that parents deserve to decide what kind of entertainment they wish their children to be exposed to. I also believe that it is okay for us to sing songs about messages of hope, kindness, love, acceptance, joy, families and the fact that my family doesn’t look like your family is okay. That’s beautiful.
What I’m trying to do is to celebrate and give voice and space to those who don’t feel like they have it. I am the first drag entertainer to walk in this space with Disney, with Nickelodeon, in such a public manner – and I take that so seriously. This is my life’s work and also my life’s mission, to help families and people feel seen and just have space. This is what I know I’m supposed to do, and “Hairspray” is a part of that work. I’m lucky that I lucky that I get to do it.
What else can you share about the tour?
It is massive and this cast is brilliant. It features Toneisha Harris from “The Voice” and I’m not joking, people are going to jump out of their seats every night when they hear her sing. We’ve got Nikki Metcalf who is brilliant, fresh face and talent and just this whole cast of incredible, incredible performers who are so full of energy.
Watch out for this talent because the people on the show are exquisite. “Hairspray” is a young show, and so for many people this is also their first national tour, but I promise you’re going to get to know all these names and faces after you see the show.
You can’t stop their beat.
Honey! You can’t stop their beat! (Laughs.) Full circle.
“Hairspray” plays at the RP Funding Center Dec. 27. For tickets and more information, visit RPFundingCenter.com and HairsprayTour.com.
