ACTOR IDENTIFIES WITH LEAD ROLE IN HAIRSPRAY
‘I’ve learned to feel good about myself, and my size’
For Greg Kalafatas, playing matriarch Edna Turnblad in the Broadway Across Canada tour of the musical Hairspray is not a drag act.
Edna is the mother of the show’s hero, Tracy Turnblad, an overweight, high school senior who dreams of one day dancing on The Corny Collins Show, Baltimore’s popular teenage dance show.
Edna is overweight, reclusive and shy, but, with the help of her daughter, learns to accept who she is and, once again, live life to the fullest.
“From the first day of rehearsals, it was emphatic that I was playing a woman. I’m not a man playing a man playing a woman, as is the case in La Cage aux Folles. This role was never meant to be a drag act and it is not meant to be campy. Funny, yes, but not campy. Edna has traditionally been played by a man,” says Kalafatas.
Hairspray is based on John Waters’ 1988 film that starred Ricki Lake as Tracy in her film debut, and Waters’ longtime collaborator, drag queen Divine, as Edna. The stage musical, which opened on Broadway in 2002 and ran for 2,642 performances, starred Harvey Fierstein as Edna, and the 2007 film version starred John Travolta as Edna.
This tour of Hairspray runs at the Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary from March 19 to 24, and at the Jubilee in Edmonton on March 26-31.
Kalafatas says the key to playing Edna is “to find the honesty of the character and that means looking at her backstory. When we meet her, she’s not having a great day. She does people’s laundry for a living, and she’s just burned a huge hole in a tablecloth which means she’ll have to use her own money to replace it.
“Nor is Edna having a great life. She hasn’t left the apartment for 10 years. She has gained so much weight that she has to make all her clothes, and she doesn’t see any future for herself. Edna doesn’t like herself anymore. People make fun of her weight, and she believes them.”
It’s Tracy who convinces her mother they should go to Mr. Pinky’s Plus-size Dress Shop together, where they receive makeovers and a great deal of confidence.
“I understand Edna from a very personal level. I’ve been teased about my size, and things really got bad for my self-confidence during the pandemic. I sat at home watching TV, playing video games, and overeating and, like so many artists, I didn’t think things were going to get better.”
Kalafatas says his makeover moment came when he was starring in the musical The Full Monty.
“Night after night, hearing the cheers and encouragement from the audience, especially during the striptease scene, showed me that if they could accept my size, I certainly should be able to. Like Edna, I’ve learned to feel good about myself, and my size. I’m healthy. I do eight shows a week. I’ve got as much stamina as anyone else in the show.”
Hairspray has been on Kalafatas’ radar for more than 15 years.
“I saw the original cast in New York during my senior year in high school and, in 2007, I auditioned for a touring production of Hairspray. I was too young so I didn’t get the role but the fact I got callbacks at that audition prompted me to keep auditioning for other shows.”
Three years ago, Kalafatas did get cast in this latest tour of Hairspray, but not as Edna.
“For two years, I played Mr. Pinky and several other roles, and then this year I took over the role of Edna. It’s a joy to be in this show because people really love it, and for good reason. It’s so funny, and it moves so quickly, and the songs are all so catchy and so memorable.”