Cry-baby at Rainier Arts Center

This jumping, jiving Tony nominee is a rebellious teen comedy event! Based on the cult classic, 1990 John Waters film, Cry-Baby features a delightfully demented book from the writers of Hairspray and a rockabilly score from the co-founder of Fountains of Wayne and the executive producer of "The Daily Show."

It's 1954. Everyone likes Ike, nobody likes communism and Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker is the coolest boy in Baltimore. He's a bad boy with a good cause – truth, justice and the pursuit of rock and roll. Cry-Baby and the square rich girl, Allison, are star-crossed lovers at the center of this world. Fueled by hormones and the new rhythms of rock and roll, she turns her back on her squeaky clean boyfriend, Baldwin, to become a "drape" (a Baltimore juvenile delinquent) and Cry-Baby's moll. At the other end of the topsy-turvy moral meritocracy of 1954 America, Baldwin is the king of the squares and leads his close-harmony pals against the juvenile delinquents, who are ultimately arrested for arson, sending the drapes all off to prison. It's Romeo and Juliet meets High School Hellcats.

Authors

• Adam Schlesinger
• David Javerbaum
• John Waters
• Mark O'Donnell
• Thomas Meehan

Tony Awards and Nominations for Cry-baby