#1
Posted: 8/2/06 at 11:38am
Copyright Daily News, L.P. Jul 30, 2006
Hooray for "Hairspray!"
The Broadway musical about a big girl with big hair and even bigger dreams - she wants to dance her way to stardom on teen TV in the '60s - is a booming blast.
This new national tour opened last week at Harrah's. But even if you've seen it at the Neil Simon Theater (where it's still running), don't miss this Atlantic City version. It's actually a lot more fun. The cast is so full of energy, they could light up the Boardwalk all night long.
Trimmed by director Matt Lenz to a crisp 90 minutes, this "Hairspray" has more spunk and bounce than the 2003 Broadway Tony winner - yet it remains faithful to Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman's pop-rock score, and Tom Meehan and Mark O'Donnell's script. Danny James Austin's choreography will have audiences nearly out of their seats.
Leading lady Brooklynn Pulver may be short in stature, but she's a heavyweight performer with a brassy Broadway voice. As the unstoppable Tracy Turnblad - the high-school outcast obsessed with getting her 15 minutes of fame on Corny Collins' TV show - she dances with ease and skill.
The genius of "Hairspray," written by director John Waters as a
nonmusical movie in 1988, is that it delicately handles complex issues of race. Behind the music, the dancing, the jokes and the dazzling costumes is the clear message that we all must learn to get along with each other - and the best teachers might just turn out to be kids.
The play takes place at the start of the '60s in downtown Baltimore, where bouffants and bigotry set the scene. Blacks and whites stay in their own worlds, but neither has ever encountered the likes of Tracy.
She lives with her equally massive mama Edna, who makes a living
ironing clothes in her living room, while her thin-as-a-reed, flighty father, Wilbur, runs a not-so-flourishing joke business downstairs.
Unlike her daughter, Edna has little self-esteem. "I'm like a book of half-filled Green Stamps - beyond redemption," she proclaims. But as Tracy sings "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now," Edna realizes that she has to give her daughter room to grow.
Eventually, Tracy sneaks onto the Corny Collins set, where she bumps into Link Larkin, a scrawny Elvis wanna-be who's coveted by practically every girl in town. But the chorus lets Tracy know that heavy gals need not apply.
Innocently, Tracy turns to the 'hood in the hope of landing a spot on Corny's once-a-month "Negro Night." Coaxed by the local matriarch, Motormouth Maybelle, who not only sings with intensity but talks in rhyme, Tracy finds new hope and new friends. By the end, everybody is singing and dancing together.
Constantine Rousouli is handsome and winning as Link. Alyssa Malgeri is goofy as Tracy's best friend, Penny, who falls in love with Motormouth's son Seaweed (the wonderful Christian White). Jerry O'Boyle(in the role created by Harvey Fierstein on Broadway) and Dan Ferretti are marvelous as Edna and Wilbur Turnblad, especially in the show-stopper "You're Timeless to
Me." Yvette Clark is amazing as Motormouth,va-vooming through "I Know Where I've Been" with infectious glee. But this is Pulver's moment - she's a larger-than-life performer in a cast that will rock your socks off.
Sun. at 3 & 8, Mon.-Tues. at 8, Wed. at 3 & 8, Thurs. at 8, Fri. at 9(no shows Sat.); $40-$60.
Hooray for "Hairspray!"
The Broadway musical about a big girl with big hair and even bigger dreams - she wants to dance her way to stardom on teen TV in the '60s - is a booming blast.
This new national tour opened last week at Harrah's. But even if you've seen it at the Neil Simon Theater (where it's still running), don't miss this Atlantic City version. It's actually a lot more fun. The cast is so full of energy, they could light up the Boardwalk all night long.
Trimmed by director Matt Lenz to a crisp 90 minutes, this "Hairspray" has more spunk and bounce than the 2003 Broadway Tony winner - yet it remains faithful to Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman's pop-rock score, and Tom Meehan and Mark O'Donnell's script. Danny James Austin's choreography will have audiences nearly out of their seats.
Leading lady Brooklynn Pulver may be short in stature, but she's a heavyweight performer with a brassy Broadway voice. As the unstoppable Tracy Turnblad - the high-school outcast obsessed with getting her 15 minutes of fame on Corny Collins' TV show - she dances with ease and skill.
The genius of "Hairspray," written by director John Waters as a
nonmusical movie in 1988, is that it delicately handles complex issues of race. Behind the music, the dancing, the jokes and the dazzling costumes is the clear message that we all must learn to get along with each other - and the best teachers might just turn out to be kids.
The play takes place at the start of the '60s in downtown Baltimore, where bouffants and bigotry set the scene. Blacks and whites stay in their own worlds, but neither has ever encountered the likes of Tracy.
She lives with her equally massive mama Edna, who makes a living
ironing clothes in her living room, while her thin-as-a-reed, flighty father, Wilbur, runs a not-so-flourishing joke business downstairs.
Unlike her daughter, Edna has little self-esteem. "I'm like a book of half-filled Green Stamps - beyond redemption," she proclaims. But as Tracy sings "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now," Edna realizes that she has to give her daughter room to grow.
Eventually, Tracy sneaks onto the Corny Collins set, where she bumps into Link Larkin, a scrawny Elvis wanna-be who's coveted by practically every girl in town. But the chorus lets Tracy know that heavy gals need not apply.
Innocently, Tracy turns to the 'hood in the hope of landing a spot on Corny's once-a-month "Negro Night." Coaxed by the local matriarch, Motormouth Maybelle, who not only sings with intensity but talks in rhyme, Tracy finds new hope and new friends. By the end, everybody is singing and dancing together.
Constantine Rousouli is handsome and winning as Link. Alyssa Malgeri is goofy as Tracy's best friend, Penny, who falls in love with Motormouth's son Seaweed (the wonderful Christian White). Jerry O'Boyle(in the role created by Harvey Fierstein on Broadway) and Dan Ferretti are marvelous as Edna and Wilbur Turnblad, especially in the show-stopper "You're Timeless to
Me." Yvette Clark is amazing as Motormouth,va-vooming through "I Know Where I've Been" with infectious glee. But this is Pulver's moment - she's a larger-than-life performer in a cast that will rock your socks off.
Sun. at 3 & 8, Mon.-Tues. at 8, Wed. at 3 & 8, Thurs. at 8, Fri. at 9(no shows Sat.); $40-$60.
That's my real motivation for the cast list! I wish I knew the names of the Tracys and Wilburs I spoke to at the audition, so I'd know if they were cast. 
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