By Doug Iden
Winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, the wildly, exuberant Hairspray shows us why it has such holding power at the Incline Theater.
Plot and Characters of CLP’s Hairspray
Based upon John Waters’s movie of the same name, Hairspray tells the joint tale of teen coming-of-age angst, outcasts, and a passion to improve society. As in other Waters’s movies, his home town of 1962 Baltimore, becomes a major character. Tracy Turnblad (Carly Shepherd), a “pleasantly plump” vivacious teen with a huge, bouffant hairdo longs to sing on the local teenage rock and roll dance television program The Corny Collins Show. Tracy begs her mother Edna (played deliciously in drag by Sean Miller-Jones) to audition for a new opening on the show. Edna refuses but her father Wilbur (Douglas Berlon) relents. Tracy is rejected at the show’s audition but learns some dance steps from Seaweed Stubbs (Roman Harrison-Richardson) which she uses at the Sophomore Hop to impress Collins (Jack Manion).
With her new choreography, Tracy becomes an overnight sensation on Collins’s show much to chagrin of producer Velma Von Tussle (Jenny Herndon). Velma’s daughter Amber (Caroline Rakestraw) is also angry because her boyfriend Link Larkin (Tommy Sanders) is showing an interest in Tracy. The two team up for vengeance. As Tracy’s fame expands, Edna is forced out of her self-imposed exile and becomes part of the TV show. Later, Tracy enlists her newfound friends to picket Collins show because blacks were only allowed on “Negro Night” once a month. This further inflames the animosity which Velma and Amber feel towards Tracy and leads to a major confrontation.
Themes
This show has more depth than may appear on the surface. Under the guise of frothy fun lurks some dark, serious themes including 1960’s racism, body shaming, vengeance, and the battle of individualism versus staid societal norms. Tracy, and her increasingly larger band of mixed races, shows how organized cooperation and energetic activism can help empower racial integration and acceptance of nonconformity.
Music
Hairspray’s music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman won a Tony for best score. Music Director Ryan Heinrich’s opening number is an homage to John Waters’s home town while setting the themes and introducing the characters with “Good Morning Baltimore.” Tracy, Amber, and Tracy’s friend Penny (Savanah Slaby) intones a feminist anthem “I’m a Big Girl Now” to their respective mothers Edna, Velma, and Prudy. Upon seeing heartthrob Link, Tracy dreams “I Can Hear the Bells.” Act One ends with the raucous “Big, Blond and Beautiful” featuring Motormouth (Mandy Gaines), Little Inez (Grace Manning) and the ensemble.
Act Two opens with the entire cast in jail after a riot ensuing from a protest featuring “Big Doll House.” Edna and Wilbur rekindle their relationship with “You’re Timeless to Me,” a touching and humorous but satiric melody. In a unique staging, Link and Trudy sing the duet “Without Love” followed by another duet between the newly amorous Penny and Seaweed followed by the entire chorus chiming in. A highlight features Gaines’s gospel like anthem “I Know Where I’ve Been.” The show ends with the boisterous and triumphant “You Can’t Stop the Beat.” The singing is excellent throughout.
Leadership and Design
Director Dee Anne Bryll has meshed a seamless interaction between dancing, singing, and acting. The scenic design by Brett Bowling is extremely colorful with a surrealistic blend of different shapes and the illusion of the TV studio. Props include cameras, various signs for applause, etc. which double as sight gags and a giant can of hairspray, the commercial sponsor for the Collins Show. June Hill and Jesselee Whitson have designed dozens of different costumes, many representing teen fashions in the early 1960’s but also including business suits, dodgeball uniforms, “extra-large” dresses, and lots and lots and lots of wigs.
There is also a LOT of dancing choreographed by Julius Jones and Bryll including a ballroom dance by Edna and Wilbur, many production numbers of teens on Collins’s show and jive dancing by the black performers. The dancing is extraordinary but Harris-Richardson excels with many slinky moves.
Overall
This is a highly entertaining, supercharged production with a serious dramatic underpinning. Shepherd as Tracy lights up the stage with infectious enthusiasm while Miller-Jones as Edna almost steals the show with a character arc running from timid and frumpy to outgoing and outrageous. Jenny Herndon as Velma is delightfully vicious and Rakestraw (Amber) impersonates a sexy “Barbie Doll” beautifully. Other good contributors include Berlon, Sanders (an Elvis wannabe), Manion in the satiric host role plus Harris-Richardson (Seaweed), Maines (Motormouth) and Slaby (Penny).
Tickets to CLP’s Hairspray
So, grab your dancing shoes and “wig out” on Hairspray continuing at the Warsaw Federal Incline Theater through September 14. CLICK HERE for more information and tickets.
