Favorite MotorMouth Maybelle

[CollegeDreamer]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 4:54pm

Who was your favorite MotorMouth Maybelle from Hairspray? 

Mine is Sandra Marvin from the U.K tour. There was something about her IKWIB that moved me no other actress has done.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 5:14pm

Jennifer Hudson. 

[The Other One]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 5:16pm

Darlene Love.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 5:17pm

Jennifer Hudson. 

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 5:30pm

On stage: Darlene Love for sure with understudy Carla Hargrove as a close second. 

On film: I loved Queen Latifah in the 2007 movie musical and LIVED for Jennifer Hudson's I Know Where I've Been in Hairspray LIVE.  

Updated On: 9/1/17 at 05:30 PM

[Zamedy154]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 6:50pm

Sassiness: Mary Bond Davis (OBC). Never saw her live but she's larger than life on the OBCR and her energy is infectious

My personal favorite: DARLENE LOVE. Saw her last Broadway performance. Girl can SING! She's a music legend. Her IKWYB knocks your socks off. Her final IKWYB live will be a performance I will never forget.

Hudson is an amazing talent. I just thought she was way too young. Motormouth, to me, is an older, wiser tour de force who has walked through the hell of the civil rights era and lived to tell about it.

[Itonlytakesajourney]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 7:12pm

Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah are my favorites. Maybelle has to be a powerful, belt-like-no-other character, and the actress needs to fit that notion to a T. Both Jennifer and Latifah slayed the life out of that score, to me they can't be topped.

[Itonlytakesajourney]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 7:12pm

Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah are my favorites. Maybelle has to be a powerful, belt-like-no-other character, and the actress needs to fit that notion to a T. Both Jennifer and Latifah slayed the life out of that score, to me they can't be topped.

[Hairspray0901]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 10:13pm

Darlene Love, without question. She was PERFECTION. 

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 10:18pm

Darlene Love

 

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 10:19pm

Darlene Love, for sure. 

[gravity87]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 10:23pm

Jenifer "Mutha F*ckin" Lewis

[Tag]

Posted: 9/1/17 at 10:56pm

This is a good thread to bring this up.  When BJ Crosby passed away, Harvey Fierstein tweeted this.  Can anyone shed some light on when she was involved as Motormouth??

[CollegeDreamer]

Posted: 9/2/17 at 1:18am

Tag said: "This is a good thread to bring this up. When BJ Crosby passed away, Harvey Fierstein tweeted this. Can anyone shed some light on when she was involved as Motormouth??"

Jesus.. I loved that performance. 

[Zamedy154]

Posted: 9/2/17 at 8:32am

Not  sure BJ's involvement. I'm pretty sure Mary Bond Davis was Motormouth in workshops, and I know Charlotte Crossley (one of Bette's original Harlettes BTW) played Motormouth in the first national tour and for the final stretch of the Broadway run (Hairspray's original Velma, Linda Hart, was also a Harlette in the late 70s/early 80s).

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 9/2/17 at 11:24am

I've always heard Jennifer Lewis did all the readings and workshops but something happened where she couldn't do Seattle/open on Broadway. I'm not 100% though, so I'd love for someone to tell the whole history. 

[Zamedy154]

Posted: 9/2/17 at 12:38pm

You know what.. I think you're right about Jenifer Lewis. She went on to play the part for a short stretch on Broadway. The time I saw it her understudy, Territa Reed, was in. She sang the part well but her acting was nothing spectacular, she was too young and she appeared heavily padded.

I heard a few audio recordings of Lewis singing IKWYB from her Broadway run. She sounded incredible but I couldn't help but be distracted by how she decided to sing the whole song a measure or two behind the orchestra.

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 9/2/17 at 3:51pm

I'd be curious to know about BJ Crosby as well

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/2/17 at 5:20pm

Wasn't Sharon Wilkins involved at some point as well?

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Posted: 9/2/17 at 11:47pm

Hudson sings loudly, but she can't act her way out of a paper bag.

Give me a Maybelle that can sell the script AND the songs.  I did quite enjoy MBD, as she created the role and gave some seriously spirited line readings.

 

 

[BroadwayMan5]

Posted: 9/3/17 at 12:04am

Jennifer Hudson for me. But it might have been because she towered so far above the rest in that pretty bland version (though shout out to Dove Cameron as Amber too)