Hairspray On Tour

[karennnnn]

Posted: 1/2/10 at 2:21pm

I know they just played their first shows but did anyone go?
Curious about the new cast, not that I saw the old one.
We saw Hairspray on Broadway 2 years ago and have tickets to see the tour in B'more next weekend. I'm so excited!!!!

[jonmbway4652]

Posted: 1/2/10 at 2:24pm

I saw the equity tour and the non equity tour. I saw the previous cast back in January 2007 (non-equity) and they were all very good so I imagine the new cast would be great also. The only thing that really bothered me about the tour is that the sets were way cut back compared to the Broadway production and the first national tour. A lot of pieces are missing and it just looks cheaper. However, the show was still great!
Enjoy =]

[karennnnn]

Posted: 1/2/10 at 3:11pm

Cool thanks! I'm sure it will be great. I am hoping John Waters will show up but the poor man has been through the show so many times I'm sure he won't come.
It will be interesting to see what the set looks like compared to what I've already seen. I thought it was simple to begin with so we'll see.
I've friended the new Tracy on facebook to see if she had any pics posted of the new cast doing their thing; there's a few of them.
I can't wait for my daughter to see it again. She was only 2.5 when we saw it the first time and now two years later she's bound to enjoy it even more.

[StageMgr]

Posted: 1/2/10 at 9:20pm

a guy from my high school is in it now, it should be good.

[SNLMedia]

Posted: 1/2/10 at 11:03pm

I saw the tour today at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Connecticut. I've seen the Broadway production 50+ times, but this was my first time seeing the show on tour.

I'm not sure if it's because I haven't seen the show since the closing performance on Broadway, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I particularly enjoyed Jerry O'Boyle as Edna; he reminded me of Blake Hammond in parts. After the "What are you wearing?" line, he ad-libbed "Prudy!" which cracked me up.

There were some cut lines and verses here and there, and a few blocking changes and lines given to other characters that threw me off, but nothing major. Nothing took away from my enjoyment of the show.

I didn't really have a problem with the cutbacks on the set or the manual movements either. I particularly liked the LED wall that replaces the "Lite Brite" wall from the Broadway production; they show some cool patterns on it that aren't seen on the "Lite Brite" wall, like shooting stars during "Without Love".

I'm not sure if they do this on all tour stops, but three cast members (probably the dance captain and two swings) came onstage during intermission and instructed the audience how to do the "You Can't Stop the Beat" choreography so we could dance with the cast at curtain call. It was cool to hear some of the nicknames that have been given to the different moves.

All in all, it was an enjoyable afternoon in Baltimore. I'm seeing the tour again in Waterbury on 1/7 and can't wait!

[romgitsean]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 12:08am

My friend Danielle is now playing Tracy--she's gonna be fabulous! Be prepared!

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 12:09am

I love Jerry! He is a riot. He usually says "ZHA ZAM!" after the "What are you wearing?" line.

I miss Brooklynn as Tracy. How is her replacement?

[SNLMedia]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 12:44am

Danielle was a great Tracy. I loved her energy! I've always felt that if the Tracy is not up to par, it brings the entire show down. I've seen this happen on Broadway a few times, but definitely not today.

[jonmbway4652]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 1:31am

they show some cool patterns on it that aren't seen on the "Lite Brite" wall, like shooting stars during "Without Love"

I remember that from the production I saw! I LOVED those shooting stars. The LED wall was a nice touch to that show!
Updated On: 1/3/10 at 01:31 AM

[WickedlyEdna1962]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 1:37am

Were the "towers" in the show for Good Morning Baltimore and Without Love? I've heard they either use them or don't all depending on the size of the stage they're working with. I saw it last year and was slightly dissappointed they weren't in use. Im seeing next week and was just wondering.

[threetwoone]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 1:39am

I saw two tour stops. One with the towers and one without. While I enjoyed the show the same both times (well, the cast was better the first time), the missing tours really was noticeable...

[jonmbway4652]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 1:49am

How do they perform "Good Morning Baltimore" and "Without Love" without those towers? I believe you I am just curious as to how those number are performed without the towers

[WickedlyEdna1962]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 1:54am

"Good Morning" is performed with just Tracy up until the ensemble comes in on the "street." There are no shadows singing around her which I always thought added a lot of charm to the scene.

"Without" there are just couples in the back of the leads dancing together. I was more bothered by the towers missing here then in "Good Morning." I always love when the 4 leads are running around the towers with the other couples up above them.

Had I never seen it on Broadway, though, I'm sure this longing for something "more" in the scene wouldn't exist.

[jonmbway4652]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 2:06am

Those towers are what made "Without Love" such a show-stopper visually. I would hate to see it performed without them.

[SNLMedia]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 12:15pm

The towers were used at the MGM Grand, but their stage is huge and it was expected. They actually used a curtain replica of the Broadway proscenium (the gold "music box") to contain the show within a smaller portion of the stage. Stairs were used on stage left for the "Beat" entrances, and the actors entered from an exit door on the right side of the auditorium. I'm curious to see how it's staged at the Palace Theatre in Waterbury next week.

[orlandog]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 12:44pm

Danielle was born to play the role of Tracy. We worked together a couple years ago and she was getting ready for Tracy then! Not to mention she can dance, act, sing, and she's super down to earth!!!

[Maceman91]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 7:51pm

Question regarding the tour:
I know people have commented over the use of a prerecorded company for You Can't Stop the Beat in the broadway production, but I was wondering if they do the same for the tour? I saw the show June 2008 in Dallas and thought the company sounded full and vibrant so I would like to know if a recorded track was responsible for it. (FYI, the DID use the tower for Good Morning Baltimore and Without Love when I saw it.)

[karennnnn]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 11:46am

We had a blast last night!
I was really really impressed with the cast. They were all hilarious. This is going to be all over the place, so forgive me.
Now, we were super excited to be there in the first place so this may be why I felt this way, but the audience for the most part was so freaking drab and I was completely bummed out by that. I'm like "People, you're in Baltimore!!!!!!!" No one really got excited until the very end during the bows and I felt terrible for the cast.
Certain parts of the show where I thought there would be at least clapping or a little bit of cheering--Nicest Kids in Town when Tracy comes out, Welcome to the 60's during the reveals, and YCSTB when Tracy comes out (Not so fast, Amber!). Nothing! People were basically still in their seats the entire time.
I wrote to Danielle Arci on FB and apologized to her about the audience lol...
When the show started the curtain went up late and that was disappointing. So we didn't get to see Tracy sleeping, turn off the alarm clock and start singing. It didn't go up until she was singing the first verse.
The ad lib of "Prudy" was hilarious and I almost thought I didn't hear it, but no one laughed. Most of the jokes went un laughed at! The Essex Community College line everyone got.
One thing Harvey Firestien did when Mr. Pinky called was say that the petty pants were modeled once for Mr. Turnblad, then him for me and I couldn't remember if that was his ad lib or not, but apparently it was.
In Timeless, at the very end they were cracking up! It was so funny. Good chemistry between those two. Funny, Timeless isn't my favorite song but it's one of my favorite parts of the show.
I Know Where I've Been was amazing, and got great audience reception.
So at the end there was no standing O at first but when Tracy came up and no one stood up I got up and yelled to my section to basically stand the F up.
OMG do I sound like a fangirl? I'm freaking 35.
All in all it was a great evening, the only thing that would have made it better is if the audience had been more receptive.
Oh one more thing--the hairspray can. My daughter was funny, when she saw it she was holding her ears b/c she remembered the show she had seen; when it opens there's smoke, etc. Last night there were streamers, then the can opened but no smoke or anything. I didn't know if it was a technical difficulty or if the tour can is different. Definitely looked smaller.
I asked Danielle this on FB but I don't expect her to answer---what the HECK is in those hairspray cans???
Anyone else see the show? I love all the feedback.

[hairspraydude1962]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 4:50pm

I saw yesterday's matinee, and the audience was horrible then, too! There were hardly any laughs at any of the jokes (except Essex Community College and only a few others). I felt bad for the cast, too! I was disappointed. I was expecting an enthusiastic crowd.

I have one question: Was the light board broken during the evening performance? It kept glitching at the matinee, and they kept turning it off and on throughout the show.

[karennnnn]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 5:49pm

Oh that's too bad about the audience. I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt it too. I got a weird vibe before the show even started.
I heard back from Danielle Arci and she told me that they were having a lot of technical problems during the shows in Baltimore. I didn't notice anything with the light boards during the evening performance. I had mentioned how disappointed in the audience I was to her but she didn't say anything. I felt badly for them because I know they had to have been thrilled to be in Baltimore, especially since many of them were new cast members, as far as I know.
One other thing I noticed that they changed was that in the Broadway production they had John Waters reading for the part where they're listening to the t.v. broadcast about Tracy's escape from prison, but in this one it was a different voice. I thought using John Waters was a great touch, but in all honesty, I couldn't understand it and finally could hear what they were saying lol!

[hairspraydude1962]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 7:50pm

That's a shame that they were having technical problems. I did notice a lot of them (lighting board, scrims not going down in time, etc.). I do miss hearing John's voice over the TV every time I see the tour. I thought it was a nice touch as well. Also, I felt a weird vibe from the audience before the show, too. No one was really that excited or anything.

[karennnnn]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 8:12pm

It could possibly be that this was part of a family series at the Lyric. I believe it was part of a subscription so there may have been a lot of people there who had the tickets b/c of the subscription and not because they necessarily chose to go.
It was quiet; there was no buzz, not much talking. It was like they were waiting for a BSO performance. Not that I don't like the BSO, but it's a different crowd.
How many empty seats were there at the afternoon performance? We were in the 2nd row of the upper Mezz and it appeared that the center mezz was the only full part of the upstairs, the sides were almost completely empty. When we came in and I saw that by 7:55 most of the seats were still empty I got worried.
I'll have to check out the rest of the tour dates and see if there's something close to home we can see to give it another try.
This was the hubby's first theater experience and even though he liked it, it was lacking, but it had NOTHING to do with the show.

[WickedlyEdna1962]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 9:05pm

Just saw the show in Redbank NJ and it was really great! The audience was really responsive and I could tell during the "You Cant Stop the Beat" reprise that the cast really appreciated it.

[hairspraydude1962]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 9:29pm

"How many empty seats were there at the afternoon performance?"

I was in the orchestra seating, so I really didn't see anything behind row N, but every seat in front of me was filled (except for the people in front of me who left at intermission). The sides were almost completely empty (from what I could tell), too.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 9:57pm

I saw both the 1st and second 2nd non-eq tour companies and enjoyed it thoroughly both times. It's actually one of my favorite shows. The tower was present both times I saw it (even though the local venues it came to were fairly large). I would HIGHLY recommend this tour. I would gladly see it a 3rd time if it came back to town.

Updated On: 1/10/10 at 09:57 PM