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SHS Graduate Gears Up for Nationwide Tour in Hairspray

Brittney Griffin Gets the Call; She’s Off  To Dance

“I knew I was going to be a professional dancer since I was a child,” said Brittney Griffin, a 2002 graduate of the Sayles School of Fine Arts at Schenectady High School, as she sat in an airport waiting for her flight to Allentown PA on February 27 where she will join the cast of Hairspray.    

Griffin who started dancing at the age of 4, has been cast to replace the actress playing the role of Cindy Watkins, one of the show's Dynamites.  The nationwide tour includes a stop at Proctor’s Theatre March 20 - 25.

Griffin got the big call about two weeks ago, just as she was finishing a short term stint as a substitute dance teacher at Schenectady High School.  “It was perfect timing,” she said.  “My term at the high school was about to end and now I can continue to work.”

The gig came as a surprise to the Schenectady native who originally auditioned for the show in May 2006 immediately after graduating from the University of Buffalo.   She said, “I kept getting call backs and the large group was narrowed down to a group of girls.”  Griffin said she was disappointed when she didn’t make the cut but since that time has kept busy taking classes, teaching dance at Eleanor’s Dance Studio in Albany and taking jobs here and there as well as substituting at Schenectady High School - where her father Nelson also works as physical education teacher and coach.

Griffin’s break came as the result of hard-work and while taking classes in New York, where she met Jeffrey Whiting, one of the choreographers from Hairspray.  “He said they would give me a call if anything comes up,” she added.   They called.  The show needed a replacement for the character of Cindy Watkins one of the three Dynamites - a fictitious singing trio  which Griffin says resembles the Supremes.

“I wasn’t expecting to get a call,” said Griffin calmly.  She explained how she got excited when she got her first call back several months ago.  “You get your hopes up and then you are let down,” she said.  “You never know what can happen and that is the business.” 

Griffin knows the drill as she has been in dance competitions since she was 6 years old.  “I’ve been dancing my whole life,” she said.  “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”  She said when she was in high school she focused primarily on dance and didn’t get very involved in theatre.  “I was only in one or two plays,” she said.  “I became more interested in theatre in college.”

While on her way to meet the cast and learn the choreography for the first time, Griffin remains calm.  “I’m not nervous, just antsy, said the dancer who has a sister to turn to for advice.  The young dancer’s sister, Maia, is currently on tour with “Sweet Charity.”  “I have someone to guide me,” said Griffin.

Other than seeing the show on Broadway about a month ago, Griffin is new to the Hairspray set.   She said she found the show to be very exciting and looks forward to being part of it.  “I’m a little behind everyone else,” she said.  “The other cast members have been working together so I’ve got some catching up to do.”  Griffin said once she learns her part, she’ll be on stage doing what she loves to do most – dancing.

The nationwide, six-month tour hits more than thirty U.S. cities, Canada and a month long stop in Japan this summer.  “I’ve never been to Japan,” she said.  “I’m very excited about that trip.”

Hairspray Synopsis
It’s 1962—the '50s are out and change is in the air. Baltimore's Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion—to dance. She wins a spot on the local TV dance program, "The Corny Collins Show" and, overnight, is transformed from outsider to irrepressible teen celebrity. But can a trendsetter in dance and fashion vanquish the program's reigning princess, win the heart of heartthrob Link Larkin, and integrate a television show without denting her 'do? Welcome to the '60s!

http://www.hairsprayontour.com/

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Times Union Story|03.15.07