Hairspray Mat. 1/22/05, a review by star2b

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 1/22/05 at 11:33pm

WARNING: Long

Well everyone, today I had a fantastic afternoon at the theatre; I saw the National Tour of Hairspray in Orlando with my mom, dad and grandma in the far right of the second row.
And as I feel my last reviews have been pretty weak, I’m going to try my hardest to review this one with the best of my ability. So here goes.
I have to admit, I had extremely high expectations. I had seen the entire OBC (with the exception of understudies Hollie Howard as Amber and Brooke Tansley as Penny) the month after the show won its Tonies. This is a show where less than two years later, ensemble members, like John Hill and Shoshana Bean, are becoming their own stars. And I have to say that every expectation I had was met above and beyond.
First of all, the cast. Keala Settle as Tracy. Oh. My. G-d. The girl’s got it all. She’s a great dancer, has tons of energy, is a terrific actress and her pipes are big and beautiful. She is truly a star in the making and a joy to watch. You New Yorkers better hope the producers pull a Carly Jibson and get Ms.Settle to take over because you all would most certainly be in for a treat.
On to Penny Pingleton. This being one of my dream roles, I had very high expectations for the actress playing her. I have seen too many actresses pretend to “be Kerry” and make Penny act like she jumped out of a cartoon. Chandra Lee Schwartz thank the lord did no such thing. Penny was still not quite comfortable being earth bound, but she wasn’t dancing on the rings of Saturn either. Penny was still as much of a spaz as ever, but she made Penny a real person. Ms. Schwartz made Penny believable rather than going solely for the laughs. And of course, what’s a Penny without the inner soul sister? I believe Ms. Schwartz knew that their were a few hair-hoppers waiting for her to deliver “But now I’ve tasted chocolate, and I’m never going back!” but she waited till “and I’m never going back!” to let loose. She was fantastic and most definitely got my stamp of approval.
Next Amber played by Worth Williams. She had a very different take on the character than from what I have seen before. She played Amber as a completely ditzy airhead. It was almost like she didn’t know what she was saying was mean and nasty. She truly seemed like so many of the children I have seen utterly manipulated by their stage moms and it was perfect. One of my favourite bits she did this afternoon totally sums it up: when she read from the cue card that says “don’t forget to watch me and mom on Mother-Daughter Day”, she pronounced “daughter” with great difficulty and it came out “da-ug-h-ter”
Austin Miller as Link Larkin, first of all GORGEOUS. That said, his Link was so full of energy. He brought goofiness to role that I thought was adorable and really showed that the feelings Tracy had for him were mutual. As my grandma said, “He just didn’t stop!”
Alan Mingo as Seaweed was also amazing. The moves, the voice, he had it all down pat.
Another stamp of approval from yours truly.
I thought Shannon Antalan was going to be strange. I mean here was a woman with a husband and child playing a 12 year old. But it wasn’t and she shined during her solo in “Run and Tell That”.
But the best pipes I heard this afternoon most definitely came from Ms. Charlotte Crossley as Ms.Motormouth Maybelle. “I Know Where I’ve Been” had all three generations tearing up and her voice rang loud and clear.
Stephen DeRosa as Wilbur was also terrific. He had some different interpretations on certain lines and made some of the humorous ones very poignant and sincere while he took some really humorous turns on lines you wouldn’t think to make funny. Another stamp of approval.
Now for the motherload, Mrs. Edna Turnbald. This role has my absolute highest expectations of them all for the obvious reason: Harvey Fierstein. If you’ve seen Harvey in Hairspray, you know what I’m talking about. His voice and presence make Edna the star of the show. . I think for all future incarnations of Hairspray, if there is going to be one role that is going to be under the most scrutiny, it’s going to be Edna.
John Pinette was heartwarming, hysterical and everything Edna should be. He stole the scenes he was in. He had great timing and his adlibs were brilliant. But he wasn’t Harvey and Keala was the star in this production. However, this is not to belittle him in anyway. He was fantastic and truly made this one of the most all around solid casts I’ve seen.
I did notice a few differences in the touring script from the Broadway incarnation. The first one I noticed was in the detention scene. The principal comes in a sees them dancing and puts everyone in Special Ed, and then Tracy has a line that goes “What do you do in special ed?” to which one of the boys says “We do musicals!”. Well in this production, the lines were, “What do you do after special ed?” to which one of the boys said, “Well, some people join Congress”
Also, “I could hear the bells” was said not only by Tracy, but also by Link after she gets hit with the ball, and Edna during “Timeless to Me”. Another clever little thing I noticed being used was the dance move during “You Can’t Stop The Beat” where they sing “You can try to stop the paradise we’re dreaming of”, that stirring action was used earlier in “Big Blonde and Beautiful” when MotorMouth sings “Keep on stirring till it hits the spot”. Snaps to Mr. Mitchell.
And sitting so close, I was able to notice some of the graffiti on the various walls of the sets, my two favourites being “Love Me Fender” and Brenda’s phone number was all over the place.
Finally, we went to the stage door to meet the cast. They are absolutely the sweetest people! They were so gracious and Keala, Stephen and Worth all gave me hugs just because I complimented them!
My grandma was dancing out of the theatre.
And as a final note, it had been raining all during the performance, but when we walked outside, there was an absolutely GORGEOUS rainbow in the sky. What a great way to end a fantastic afternoon at the theatre.

[timote316]

Posted: 1/22/05 at 11:38pm

Great review Glad you had a good time

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/22/05 at 11:39pm

Great review!

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 1/22/05 at 11:40pm

I got Emcee's stamp of approval!
I feel loved

[LoudIrishGirl]

Posted: 1/22/05 at 11:59pm

*applause*

Your review really makes me want to go see it again!

Which is unfortunate, as it has moved away from me...*tear*

But great review!

[Justice]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 1:05am

"I did notice a few differences in the touring script from the Broadway incarnation. The first one I noticed was in the detention scene. The principal comes in a sees them dancing and puts everyone in Special Ed, and then Tracy has a line that goes “What do you do in special ed?” to which one of the boys says “We do musicals!”. Well in this production, the lines were, “What do you do after special ed?” to which one of the boys said, “Well, some people join Congress”
Also, “I could hear the bells” was said not only by Tracy, but also by Link after she gets hit with the ball"

Saw the Broadway production two weeks ago, and these things were said then.

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 1:06am

Have they updated the script since they released the published book?

[Phantom Chicken]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 1:11am

VERY MUCH!

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 1:13am

Why? When?
I'm looking though my Hairspray script and I swear I'm not crazy when I mentioned those changes

[Phantom Chicken]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 1:17am

Which changes...sorry, I didn't read the full review...

some things I noticed sitting front row (and some changes I noticed)

Brenda's phone number on the wall is hilarious - such a great running gag...there was another thing but I forget...

"Cooties" has been just about completely changed. They also took out the "how many sweaters do you own?" "Well, I think I have plenty. Let's see, I have three...no, wait! I have twenty!"

Of course, most of the dialogue in the show is different that the CD (Wilbur, be a dear, fetch some oxygen now (vs call for backup))

Also, the end of Big, Blonde, and Beautiful is different than the CD.

I don't have the book with me...

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 1:19am

I knew about the Cooties, Big Blonde and Beautiful, and Miss Baltimore Crabs lyric changes being different from the CD, but was not aware that the show's book had been changed since the last time I saw it

[Phantom Chicken]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 1:24am

well, the coffee table book has a different cooties version...

it's also hard to tell because so many of the actors do improv, then keep their ad libs

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 1:27am

Oh no, not the coffee table book, that only has fragments
I was refering to the softcover full script from Applause
But I guess you could be right about the adlibs, I just didn't think it would translate to the road production *shrug*

[Phantom Chicken]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 1:34am

Oh, I never saw the road production...only Bway

[ThePrinceOfHumbug]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 1:41am

Great review and glad you enjoyed the show!

Thank you for calling out the performance of Keala! I was able to catch her when the tour was in Mpls and there is no way you could tell she was an understudy. Hopefully this girl gets called to NYC whenever Carly decides to leave the show, because she is incredible.

Carly and Keala were part of a Hairspray Cabaret here in Minnesota and they performed a duet from Jeckyl and Hyde (I think) and it about blew the roof of the place. The 2 of them have such power and passion in their voices. (Of course the boys version of Cell Block Tango about blew the roof off, but that had more to do with tight t-shirts, rippling muscles, and sweaty chests...oyyyyy!)

Back on track: Go see Keala if you get a chance!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 1/25/05 at 1:06pm

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detail oriented review. Glad you liked the show. I can't wait for them to come to DC this summer.

[Iris Chacon]

Posted: 1/25/05 at 1:13pm

Great review. Was Susan Cella still in the cast?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/25/05 at 1:32pm

sue is still with the cast.

[stagestar130]

Posted: 1/25/05 at 3:14pm

Isn't "Timeless to Me" a little different then it is on the CD also?

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:10pm

OMG, I was at that EXACT same performance!!! craziness How lucky you were in the second row!! My sister and I were on the far left in row M. The Carr is HUGE isn't it?? I wonder if I actually ran into you in the lobby or something LOL anyway, I just wanted to say I loved your review and agreed with everything!! It was an AWESOME show!!

Updated On: 1/25/05 at 04:10 PM