Hairspray (musical) encourages individuality, acceptance and freedom. It is a musical that can be applied to any social context and time, as it highlights ongoing issues such as fat-shaming, racism and discrimination. It also explores femininity in terms of the female characters. Notably, Tracy’s mother, Edna Turnblad, is performed in drag during the shows. Allowing a drag role for Edna adds a queerness to the musical as it does not include any gay characters. Edna is considered to be the non-racialised other that is part of the story in Hairspray. The musical also challenges the societal norms of a female. The body
Edna Golandsky Edna Golandsky Edna Golandsky is a classical music pianist, lecturer and pedagogue of renown. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied under Rosina Lhevinne and Adele Marcus. She later studied privately during many years with noted pedagogue Dorothy Taubman, whom she considers her main influence. She has earned wide acclaim throughout the United States and abroad for her extraordinary ability to solve technical problems at the instrument and for her penetrating musical insight. Many well-known concert pianists frequently play for her in her New York studio, including Chopin Competition laureate Gabriela Montero and Leeds Competition winner