With ‘Hairspray,' Theatre By The Sea is back to its signature sumptuous self
Based on the high-camp, low-budget 1988 nonmusical film by transgressive cult filmmaker John Waters, the musical version for the stage – which opened on Broadway in 2002, came to Providence on tour in 2003, and first appeared on the Theatre By The Sea stage in 2011 – shares its light-weight story of a big girl with big dreams against a backdrop of the civil rights movement. Sixteen-year-old Tracy Turnblad lives to dance and despite her unfashionable girth, awkward parents, and liberal views, lands a spot on a local TV teen dance program, 'The Corny Collins Show,' which she helps integrate with her high school detention buddies and best friend, Penny Pingleton.
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The film's subversive satire addressing racism, body conformism, big hair, and bullying is dipped in a candy coating for the musical, courtesy of a funny, uplifting script by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, and up-tempo, Tony Award-winning songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman.
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All this is performed by an abundantly talented, high-energy company under Christopher Campbell's direction, and a superb seven-piece band (Nathan Urdangen and Jen Christina on keyboard; Heather Katz-Cote on reed; Shawn Baptista on trumpet; Nick Moreira on guitar; Garrett Campbell on bass; and Mike Sartini on drums) following Urdangen's lightning-quick baton. The musical is chock-full of production numbers overflowing with Campbell's explosive, period-appropriate choreography.
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The show's scenic design (Cassie McKnight) is limited to just a few, hyper-realistic, standalone set pieces wheeled in front of a colorful, projected background and under several illuminated (Paul Jonathan Davis) proscenium arches. This serves to accommodate the small stage and a 28-member ensemble in perpetual motion, and it creates the illusion of greater size and depth. But, mostly, it accommodates all that is delightfully larger than life in this production, including freakishly huge wigs on the girls who populate 'The Corny Collins Show' and the stocky, 6- feet-4-inch tall Marc Christopher, who plays Tracy's mom, Edna.
A guy in this central role has long been a nod to
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As goes Edna, so too goes the production as a whole, into which the exceptionally gifted Niki Metcalf, as an accessible and thoroughly lovable Tracy, fits like a glove. With her powerful belt, remarkable dancing skills, and national tour experience in the role, Metcalf is a refreshing spritz of aerosol starting from the show's opening number, 'Good Morning Baltimore,' which introduces her and the world of this musical to the audience.
Also triple-threat terrific is Madeline Glave as Penny, Sam Yousuf as Penny's love interest Seaweed, and the featured player in the high-energy, dance break-driven 'Run and Tell That,' Dominic Young as Tracy's love interest Link Larkin, and Olivia Allen as Little Inez, Seaweed's younger sister.
Alana Cauthen is remarkable as Motormouth Maybelle, who is the host of the TV program's 'Negro Day' and whose superb and soulful 'I Know Where I've Been' is this production's show-stopping anthem.
Unfortunately, there are some talented actors who simply can't escape the woefully over-the-top dialogue assigned to their characters. They include Dylan Lugosi as teen dance show goddess Amber Von Tussle, Ginger Kroll as her mom and snobbish show producer Velma Von Tussle, Melanie Souza as every out-of-touch female authority figure, and Fred Sullivan Jr., as every out-of-touch male authority figure.
Out-of-step is Kevin B. McGlynn. His comic timing is superb and his portrayal of Tracy's dad, Wilbur Turnblad, is abundantly endearing. But he and Christopher miss all the loving, tender moments between Wilbur and Edna. Their second-act duet, the charming 'You're Timeless to Me,' is played to the audience rather than to each other, and fails to earn the automatic encore that is built into the song.
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No matter. To quote from this musical's closing number, which serves as the moral to the story: 'You can't stop the motion of the ocean or the rain from above/ You can try to stop the paradise we're dreamin' of/ But you cannot stop the rhythm of two hearts in love to stay/ 'Cause you can't stop the beat!'
HAIRSPRAY
Book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan. Music by Marc Shaiman. Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman. Directed by Christopher Campbell. At Theatre By The Sea, 364 Cards Pond Road, Wakefield. Through Aug. 16. Tickets are $74-$100 (including fees). 401-782-8587.
Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who formerly wrote for the Austin Chronicle. Connect with him
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