“Hairspray” by Greasepaint Productions
Loughborough Town Hall
Loughborough Town Hall
The year is 1962. The place is Baltimore, Maryland. Teenager Tracy Turnblad has one dream: to dance on The Corny Collins Show. When she gets put in detention with the African-American students in the school, they teach her some of their dance moves, and her new found groove wins her a spot on Corny’s show.
Overnight, Tracy transforms from a nobody into a star, and uses her newfound influence to advocate for racial integration on the television show. Tracy faces scrutiny and bullying from the network producer, Velma, and her popular, but vicious, daughter, Amber.
With the help of the teenage heartthrob Link, host Corny Collins, and Motormouth Maybelle (the host of ‘Negro Day’), Tracy overcomes the odds and succeeds in her mission to integrate The Corny Collins Show.
Emily Canham (Tracy Turnblad) is everything you'd expect from a 1960's teenager, excitable and a complete bundle of energy. Emily's energy levels makes the stage explode and is completely infectious.
Sophie Dinnie (Penny Pingleton) completely masters the zany and completely scatty sidekick to Tracy and is great fun to watch.
Ollie Lewin (Link Larkin), like all of the cast, is perfectly cast as the "boy-next-door" heart throb jock who just happens to be on the TV. With great likeability and just the right amount of arrogance. They mention in the script that he is the Corny Collins Show version of Elvis, but with Ollie's blond hair, he is just like a 60's singer called Heinz, who had a big hit with "Just Like Eddie"
Kat Pledger (Velma Von Tussle), plays the baddie of the musical, controlling her daughter and, so she thinks, everyone else on The Corny Collins Show. Velma is also a massive racist, so it's always nice to see a character like this get their comeuppance, even if it's in a positive move for her. A way that she does not recognise. Another fun character driven role.
Harriet North (Amber Von Tussell). Again we love to see the bad guys (and gals) get what is due to them, which is what makes this characters so much fun to watch. Like Kat, I bet this pair had great fun playing these nasty characters.
Dawne B Stewart (Motormouth Maybelle), I was so pleased to see that Dawne had got this part because I knew that she would be perfect for this role. Dawne has an incredible voice, so full of soul, which is highlighted in one of my favourite songs from this show, "I Know Where I've Been", which gave me tingles. Big, Blonde and Beautiful; in this role Dawne ticks all three boxes.
Lewis Shaw (Seaweed Stubbs) really brings that soul vibe to the role. He has a great image and a voice to match, especially in the down and dirty "Blacker The Berry"
Georgia Brierley-Smith ( Little Inez) brings the cheeky little sister to life. Not a major role but Georgia stuck out just for the cheekiness towards her brother, Seaweed.
Chris Wilson (Corny Collins), Now as soon as I knew that Chris was in this one, I just knew that this role would be his. The part is made for someone like Chris to play. Wonderful characterisation and a strong powerful voice, and when he smiles, you expect to see a sparkle from his smile and a "ting" sound. You know what I mean. I loved the jackets that Chris had to wear also.
Gary Peake (Edna Turnblad) is up there with the best of the Ednas, I have seen, Michael Stark, Michael Ball and any other local theatre Ednas. Another of my highlights from this musical is the duet between Edna and Wilbur "Timeless To Me".
A couple of minor roles also need to be highlighted her, mainly for the sheer fun they created on stage. Valerie Schmitt-Li (Gym Teacher) was great fun and just a little bit sleazy, and Scött O Tomkins as Mr Pinky, was incredibly camp.
Also loved the vocals of the Dynamite trio, Adele Watts, Gemma Landers and Hannah Bailey who created a lovely Sixties girl Group vibe. They also had some wonderful costumes throughout the show as well.
Another big ensemble group who wee great fun to watch, and when they sang together, the sound they created was full of power.
Directed by James Nelson, who tonight also understudied a few roles. His cheeky cameos - one more cheekier than the others - are worth watching out for. James is one of my favourite Directors because he knows musicals inside out and what they should look like, so i knew that this would be the success that it has turned out to be.
Musical Director is Gareth Wynne. I love a musical to be loud when it needs to be as well as having clarity and Gareth and his gang delivered both.
The soundtrack is great fun, and I doubt if there is anyone who does not know "You Can't Stop The Beat", but there are so many brilliant songs here, "Good Morning Baltimore", "Welcome To The 60's", "It Takes Two", "Timeless To Me", "I Know Where I've Been", "Without Love", "Run And Tell That", "I can Hear The Bells" and so many more.
Loved the lighting design (Kevin Cutts) and the colourful sets. the explosion of colour matched the explosion of energy throughout.
Only one thing could have made this production better for me, and that was the sound mix. I mentioned that the orchestra was loud, but clear, which I am all in favour of, but the mix between the on stage cast to the orchestra level was off tonight as many of the singers were drowned out. Some of the one liner comedy was also missed due to this. Thankfully, some of the cast have real power and projection in their voices when they sing so they managed to sing over this, they probably weren't even aware of it being on stage, but I think a tweak or two with the levels would have made this pinky perfection. I also noticed delays in mic volume for a couple of entrances and also sound leakage from offstage mics. Both need to be tweaked.
Not even this though stopped me from enjoying this brilliant fun musical, and I was only to happy to rise to my feet for the final bows to show my appreciation of such a great piece of musical theatre, A show that will have you singing all the way home and the following day as well; it's as catchy as measles but much more fun.
“Hairspray” is at Loughborough Town Hall until Saturday 26 October
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