Interview: Greg Kalafatas Says When It Comes To HAIRSPRAY, 'You Can't Stop the Beat'

North Reading resident Greg Kalafatas was studying theater at the University of New Hampshire when a road trip with friends to see the Broadway production of “Hairspray” introduced him to a character that has become his dream role – Edna Turnblad, the  zaftig housewife-and-laundress with a big heart.

That was 20 years ago and Kalafatas – who first played Edna in a 2011 production at Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth, N.H. – is again portraying the iconic character, this time on a tour that comes to Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre January 19–21, proving that when it comes to the Tony Award-winning musical, its signature production number says it all: “You Can’t Stop the Beat.”

And you probably won’t want to either, because the show pulls you in with great music and, two acts later, sends you out not only humming its score but also contemplating its message on integration.

Adapted for the stage from the 1988 John Waters cult-classic film of the same name, the musical – with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and book by Thomas Meehan and Mark O’Donnell – premiered at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle in June 2002 before transferring to Broadway’s Neil Simon Theatre that August and going on to win eight 2003 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. A first national tour soon followed, stopping at the Colonial Theatre in October of that year.

Set in segregated Baltimore in 1962, the story follows teenager Tracy Turnblad, the daughter of Edna and husband Wilbur, who has both an abundance of youthful innocence and a mile-high bouffant, as she pursues her dream of dancing on “The Corny Collins Show.”

After becoming an overnight sensation on live television, Tracy – with considerable help from Motormouth Maybelle, downtown record-store owner and host of “Negro Day” on “The Corny Collins Show,” and her children Seaweed J. Stubbs and Little Inez – embarks on a social-change campaign to integrate the program, earning the ire of conniving TV producer Velma Von Tussle and attracting the amorous attention of high-school heartthrob Link Larkin.

The seven-year Broadway run of “Hairspray” has spawned numerous national and international tours, as well as a 2007 feature film starring John Travolta. The current North American tour, helmed by original director Jack O’Brien and original choreographer Jerry Mitchell, features Kalafatas as Edna, a role originated by Divine in the Waters film and played later on Broadway by Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein, who reprised the part for 2016’s “Hairspray Live!” on NBC-TV.

A graduate of North Reading High School, Kalafatas previously toured in “Something Rotten,” “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story,” “The Full Monty,” and “The Drowsy Chaperone,” and has also appeared in several Holland America and Disney Cruise Line musical productions.

By telephone recently from a Tulsa, Oklahoma, tour stop, Kalafatas talked about his unabashed love “Hairspray,” what gets Edna out of her shell, and more.

You were playing a host of smaller roles when this tour came to Boston last fall. What’s it like now to be one of the leads?

I joined this tour in the fall of 2021, so this is my third year. It’s interesting, because it feels so different now that I’m playing Edna, after understudying Edna and Wilbur, and playing Mr. Pinky and other male authority figures. This time around, I had a full rehearsal process and the opportunity to explain my take on Edna before I went on in the role.

What is your take on Edna?

The way I play it, Edna’s gruffness and her initial resistance to allowing her daughter to dance on TV is her way of protecting Tracy from the experiences Edna has endured as a big person. I love Edna’s journey. She starts off perpetually cranky and goes from there. She runs her own in-home laundry business, but seldom leaves the house. She has to wake up from what her life has become, so when Motormouth Maybelle sings “Big, Blonde, and Beautiful,” it helps Edna gain self-confidence and gives her the courage to come out of the house and rejoin the world.

What was your reaction to seeing “Hairspray” on Broadway?

I saw it with the original cast, when Harvey Fierstein was playing Edna, and I can still remember thinking, “I would love to do that role,” and I was only in my early 20’s. I loved the show then and I love it now, because it’s so fast-paced and well-constructed and has such great musical numbers. I first auditioned for the show at 23. It was for the first national tour, and I’m not even sure what part I was up for, but Bruce Vilanch got the Edna role.

Do you have a favorite musical number from the show?

My favorite would have to be “(You’re) Timeless to Me,” the duet that Edna and Wilbur have in the second act. What makes it so great is that you get to see more of them together and learn what makes their relationship work so well. It’s a truly great, classic musical-theater number. I think it’s the heart of the show really.

I have a few others, too. My favorite that I’m not in is “Without Love,” which I always sing along with from backstage. And I also love Tracy’s act-one number, “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now.” I’m onstage for that one and I sing on the line, “Stop, don’t, no, please” – and I do get a couple of “oohs,” too.

Are you looking forward to being back in Boston and performing for a hometown audience?

Absolutely. My immediate family has traveled to see me as Edna, but now my extended family, and friends from high school and college, will come, too. I’ve done maybe 500 performances on this tour, but Boston means a lot so I want to make sure everything goes smoothly.

Photo captions: Caroline Eiseman (Tracy), Greg Kalafatas (Edna), and the company of “Hairspray.” Photo by Jeremy Daniel. Head shot of Greg Kalafatas, courtesy of the Emerson Colonial Theatre.