Hairspray London 8th Nov Review

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 11/9/07 at 6:35pm

HAIRSPRAY - 8th Nov 07

Well... queued from 8am in the morning, getting first row Day seats. The seats were just abit too close but it's worth the price. The only problem with being too close is that your neck does get abit stiff after the 1st act but you are REALLY close to the cast and it's great fun to have such interaction with the cast! Well it was one FUN night! The energy from the cast was just AMAZING! And the atmosphere was just WOW! I've known the show for a long time and have practically seen the show even I haven't seen it live (if you know what I mean). I had HIGH expectations for the show and I still left the theatre SO satisfied and high haha. Just what a show!

The cast was amazing! Leanne Jones was SO amazing and cute! Michael Ball was practically a woman and I can just hug his Edna forever! Though the role couldn't exactly show off his voice! And Ben James-Ellis... was WAY better than I expected him to be. He has charms and a good voice required for the role though I felt that his acting was abit lost sometimes. The Stubbs family was AMAZING as well! Both Adrian Hanzel and Johnnie Fiori were BREATHTAKING as Seaweed and Motormouth! Elinor Collett was also adorable and sweet as Penny.

Some of the other cast I didn't feel as much. Mel Smith's Wilbur... I wasn't sure whether it was him or his character. He was great don't take me wrong, he was good but I just didn't really care about him. And as Edna, I really didn't care about the Von Tussles! I thought Tracie Bennett and Rachael Wooding were average, wasn't bad nor great. I think doing WWRY really ruined Rachael's voice. I thought Paul Manuel's Corny Collins was also quite average but he does look very much like Hugh Jackman in Boy From Oz! One person I didn't like was Wendy Somerville's Female Authority Figure... maybe in my mind no one can replace Jackie Hoffman! I didn't think the Scottish gym teacher worked...

Anyway, had a great night and everyone's been awfully nice at the freezing stage door! I hope I can return to the show very soon!