Hairspray Holds Up On The Road; or, Broadwayguy2 and his Hairspray Review

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 5:00pm

HAIRSPRAY STILL HOLDS UP AFTER 14 MONTHS AND A BIT OF A TRIM

http://www.azstarnet.com/ss/2004/10/21/l43970-1.jpg
Austin Miller, Chandra Lee Schwartz, Alan Mingo Jr, and Keala Settle in "Hairspray"


After 14 months on the road, numerous cast changes, and some trimming up, Hairspray still holds up, even WITH a few dents.

Overall, the National touring company is stronger than the Broadway company in just about every area. Keala Settle is perfection as Tracy Turnblad, Hairspray's plus sized teenage heroine. She can belt with the best of them and plays the role with a natural ease and realism that draws you in and makes you want to take the journey with her. Her scene with Link in the record shop is without a doubt the most well played in the show and the most effective take on that scene that I have seen. When Tracy's heart is broken, so is yours. John Pinette has one of the biggest bras to fill in the show, strapping on the pumps to follow Harvey Fierstein, Bruce Vilanch, Michael McKean, and Jay Brazeau into the role of Tracy's loveably frumpy housewife mother, Edna Turnblad in his musical theatre debut. Vocally, he is a dead ringer for Nathan Lane and it truly works to his advantage. He is settling nicely into the role. Stephen DeRosa takes to the stage as Wilbur Turnblad in a pleasing performance that at times seems to follow in the footsteps of Groucho Marx. He, Pinette, and Settle make a believable and loving family.

Sue Cella is delightfully devious and bitchy as the viscious Velma Von Tussle and Charlotte Crossley is a showstopper as Motormouth Maybelle, delivering her act two anthem with powerful and creamy vocals.

Chandra Lee Schwartz is a wonderful find as Tracy's ditzy best friend Penny Pingleton. The girl can dance and sing like a little dynamo and she nails the laughs while making it seem effortless. Alan Mingo, Jr. as Seaweed J Stubbs is another gem, making the most of every moment on stage and singing the hell out of the score. Worth Williams is ideally cast as Amber Von Tussle. She isn't PLAYING Amber, she simply IS Amber.

As the authority figures, Joanna Glushak and Kenny Morris make the most of their numerous bit parts. Glushak in particular drew hoots of laughter during "Big Dollhouse" as her butch prison matron leaned down to flirt with musical director Jim Vukovich and again when she made her entrance and change of heart during the show stopping finale.

There was some concern among many people about Shannon Antalan, an actress in her mid-twenties, taking on the role of Inez. I pleased to report that nothing is lost here and MANY theatregoers that I saw were surpised to see that she was not a teenager. In fact, she manages to be more youthful than her original Broadway counterpart, then-15 year old Danelle Eugenia Wilson. Antalan is a diamond in the rough here, though she has little stage time, she makes it memorable.

The two dissapointments in the principal company are Troy Britton Johnson as Corny Collins and Austin Miller as Link Larkin. Miller has absolutely no clue as to what is going on on the stage. He has little concern for any of his costars and seems more interested in turning every moment of his stage time into the Austin Miller Hour. He has no grasp at all on the character and seems to be confused as to whether Link is Tracy's boyfriend or her hairdresser. Settle was playing "Frankie and Annette" while Miller was playing it as "Will and Grace" with the occasional "David and Liza". Instead of being a smooth dancer, he often appeared to be immitating a Richard Simmons work-out video. Johnson seemed to be not up to par vocally and rather introverted and contrived in his role, where more often than not, his Collins was more Creepy than Corny.

As the Dyanamites, Gabrielle Hatchett (in for Anastacia McClesky), Diedre Lang, and Nraca, are, as always, showstoppers, drawing in one of the strongest audience responses with their demanding and roof raising vocals.

Here, the nicest kids in town are played by Bryan Crawford (Brad), Michael Cunio (Fender), Natalie Hill (Shelley), Jesse Johnson (IQ), Lauren Kling (Tammy), Melissa Larsen (Brenda), Holly Rone (LouAnn), and Bryan West (Sketch). Of particular note among this group are Cunio, who uses his hilarious turn in "Welcome to the 60s" to great delight (one moment in particular), Hill, whose role allows her several chances to show off her beautiful voice, and West, who comes off as the strongest dancer.

Rounding out the Hairspray ensemble are Jacqueline B Arnold, Wilkie Ferguson, Leonard Sullivan, and Brent Davin Vance. None of them dissapoint.

Swings are Joe Abraham, Gretchen Bieber, Stephanie Fittro, Gabrielle Hatchett, and Jason Snow. Stand-bys are Katrina Rose Dideriksen and Dale Calandra.

Jack O'Brien's direction and Jerry Mitchell's choreography are as tight as ever and the Shaiman/Wittman score, here under the command of dynamic musical director Jim Vukovich, is still a treat and one of the rare scores to not have a song that bombs.

William Ivey Long's costumes and Paul Huntley's wigs are still a delight to behold. There have been some alterations to several of the costume designs, some of which I prefer to their previous incarnations (of particluar note is the new finale costume for Inez), and some of which are not as good (every other costume for Inez should be burned at the earliest possible time)

David Rockwell's candy-confection set has been scaled back slightly in the past few weeks to make the show easier to load in. His designs are still a strong point. The opening sequence with Tracy in her bed and the dancing shadows around her perfectly set up the conceit of seeing the world through the idealistic eyes of an unstoppable, optimistic 16 year old girl. Some of the changes are not at all noticable to the average theatregoer and in some cases, such as the deletion of the microphone booms in the WZZT studio and replacing them with a gobo projection of the previous design, work better. Others though, detract from the show. The cut back version of the "Mama, I'm A Big Girl Now" vanities weaken the staging and take away from the song's previous 'pop' and the deletion of the Har-De-har Hut set and playing the "Timeless To me" scene in the Turnblad living room simply does not work at all.

Overall, the national touring company of Hairspray should not be missed. Order your tickets now!
Updated On: 11/28/04 at 05:00 PM

[Princeton78]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 5:29pm

Fab review. I have a question though...what is so expensive about dropping the curtain to let Edna and Wilbur do "Timeless to Me?" I understand the scaling back, and I'd rather have a hot cast and orchestra with just OK sets....but I dont' see why doing "TTM" is so expensive to do it like they do at the Neil Simon. Oh well. Totally agree with you btw about Austin Miller. Didn't he look frighteninly like a young Harry Connick Jr. though?? Of the 4 Links I have seen, I say Matt M. was the best over all, and Serge Kushiner was the best eye candy. Hehe...I've also seen Rich Blake and Austin.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 5:34pm

They still drop the curtain during "Timeless to me". the scene starts in the Turnblad Living room instead of the Har-fe-Har. When the song gets going, the set moves off anf the curtain comes down. The cuts were not made for cost reasons so much as for ease of touring -- to make the load in time for the show shorter.

Austin DOES look like Harry.

[basketcase]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 5:39pm

Well at least I know I didn't miss anything by catching Michael Cunio as Link rather than Austin Miller. Michael Cunio...oh so cute.

Thanks for the review, broadwayguy2. I caught the tour before the departures of Bruce, Jordan, Sandra etc. so it's nice to hear that the newer additions to the cast are doing great!

[scottwalker]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 5:40pm

Thanks for the great review.Would not expect anything less from you.
While I have seen Hairspray 14 times...between March 31st and October 3rd of this year.Have not been able to get myself to go back...since the big exodus.Not quite ready yet.
I did however see more then one Edna,Wilber,Penny,Tracy,Amber,Corny,Motormouth,Little Inez,and many ensemble changes.All were fantastic.The people just seem to come in and takeover and hardly miss a beat.The actors are interchangeble...From the road to Broadway and vice versa.
Do so love Chester Gregory as Seaweed though...Hard to imagine another in that role for me.
I guess it is a testament to the incredible material that they are performing.
When my family and I are able to go again...I do know that I will miss many.Tracy Jai Edwards.Jackie Hoffman.Jenn and Brooke...both were great Pennys.Even many of the ensemble are gone.But I am sure that their places will be taken by ...some of the people that you just reviewed...and will be in good hands.
Thanks again...Great to know that it is just as good to see on the tour as on Broadway.

[saddle shoe side kick]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 6:56pm

Great review :) Glad to hear tour Penny is in good/great hands. Where is the picture from? It's a nice one.

Updated On: 11/27/04 at 06:56 PM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 7:06pm

That is one of the numerous press shots of the current tour cast that I have found online.

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 7:15pm

I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed Worth William's performance!
Go Worth!!!

[sabrelady]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 7:21pm

Neato review!;D

[WhatDoINeedWithLove?]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 8:02pm

Good review, but you need a life! :P

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 8:08pm

He has one...theatre.

[saddle shoe side kick]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 8:42pm

theatre is my life

[zoran912]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 8:42pm

I'm really excited now!

This show's coming to my area early in the new year and I have TICKETS!!! So freakin' excited!

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 8:56pm

I am seeing the show in June of 2005

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 9:11pm

is it just me or does the tracy wig in that picture look a little squashed from front to back


also can someone post those other press picures (in particular any of pinette as edna) please?

[Joshua488]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 9:15pm

I think it's just you. It just looks like it's brushed back. It looks pretty normal to me.

[saddle shoe side kick]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 9:54pm

I wanna see more pictures of Chandra Lee Schwatrz as Penny.

[Phantom2]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 11:03pm

Good job BG2! Maybe Rob will hire you as an official BWW critic!!

[timote316]

Posted: 11/27/04 at 11:10pm

Very good review. I dont think the tour is coming near me anytime soon, tho

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/28/04 at 1:13am

http://www.crescentcitychronicles.net/IMAGES_FROM_PLAYS/HAIRSPRAY/Hairspray_Pictures.htm

here are several press photos. They even feature a few of the swings.

Having a VERY up close and personal view of said wig, I can tell you that it isn't squished at all.

[WhatDoINeedWithLove?]

Posted: 11/28/04 at 3:02am

Note: Due to PMs saying how very "rude" I am due to my you need a life post...The ":P" implied that I was kidding. BWG2 is my buddy and I wasn't at all serious. Let's lighten up okay? Mmmkay!

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/28/04 at 3:44pm

let's not get catty ladies and ladies.

*bumping this thread cause I feel like it*

Order your tickets today!

[M J R]

Posted: 11/28/04 at 10:52pm

Good review!! Can't say I'm suprised to hear that about Austin.