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Dreamy: (l-r) Pulver and Rousouli in Hairspray. |
Nothing
But Fun
By
James Yeara
Hairspray
Book
by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, lyrics by Scott Wittman
and Marc Shaiman, music by Marc Shaiman, Directed by Matt
Lenz
Proctor’s Theatre, through March 25
What’s colorful, loud, fast, funny, and shticky, with music
and lyrics by the same man partially responsible (with Trey
Parker) for the music and lyrics of South Park: Bigger,
Longer, and Uncut? What’s the winner of the 2003 Tony
Award for Best Musical, the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Musical
Show Album, and opening as a December 2007 movie starring
John Travolta? What’s based on a 1988 John Waters movie that
starred Ricki Lake, and is currently playing at Proctor’s
Theatre? What’s literally a ton of fun and tastier than sticky
buns?
Hairspray
is the word. Fresh from its shows in Ottawa, Ontario, this
non-Equity production of the smash Broadway hit will be teasing
in Schenectady until Sunday when it curls away to Wilmington,
Del. The capacity audience at Tuesday’s opening didn’t care
if the production values were threadbare; a young cast with
lots of energy (on their first national tour with the satirical
musical), bright lights and costumes, and a beehive full of
hysterical characters would make anyone who paid $60 a ticket
believe this is a Broadway-caliber show.
And it is tons of fun. Think Grease plus four years.
Hairspray tells the story of fubsy 16-year-old Tracy
Turnblad (a smartly named Brooklynn Pulver) and her improbable
quest to dance on Baltimore’s hit 1962 teen TV show The
Corny Collins Show, a manufactured bit of peppy fluff
worthy of the Disney Channel. Aided by her quirky, skinny
best friend Penny Pingleton (a delightfully funny Alyssa Malgeri),
the duo overcome the machinations of über-blonde Velma Von
Tussle (Happy McPartlin), the Corny show’s producer,
and her über-dumb-blonde daughter Amber Von Tussle (Pearl
Thomas) to win the Miss Teen Hairspray award for 1962. They
also integrate The Corny Collins Show, get the heart,
lips, and other relevant parts of the male anatomy of the
show’s teen heartthrob Link Larkin (Constantine Rousouli),
and thoroughly entertain an audience.
They succeed at it all. The music is 1962 rock-and-pop perfection,
smile-inducing and foot-tapping. From the opening feel-good
anthem “Good Morning Baltimore” (“Every day is like an open
door”) to the sweet “I Can Hear the Bells” to the showstopping
“You Can’t Stop the Beat,” Hairspray is get-up-out-of-your-seat
fun. Christian White as Seaweed J. Stubbs, the black teen
who teaches Tracy some dance steps, and Penny some bedroom
moves to fully integrate Baltimore, is stand-out excellent
in a production full of people with a lot of energy and smiles.
It may not be Broadway quality, but it is cheaper, closer,
and briefer.
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