Hairspray The Tour - Ottawa Review

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 7:36pm

After waiting months to finnaly see Hairspray I was able to see it twice here in Ottawa, once this Past Friday and also closing night Sunday. To be honest all I have to say is wow. Although I know the play -- and have seen videos before I still loved every moment. Since it was the tour and the second or something non equity the sets were scaled down as said before. Pennys, and Ambers mirrors are on stands, there are only two moving head posters, alot of flies and drops, things which were once drops such as the star lights in You cant Stop the Beat are now painted on the backdrop. The thing that is indeed an improvement was the LED lighs for the back of the set, it made it easier to control what exactly they were trying to make, instead of the large lights, becaues they could actually make stars behind 'Without Love' and had more of a wide arrange of colors to use.

Jerry O'Boyle was a great Edna Turnblad .. which I wasn't expecting because someone said he treated it like a Drag roll which is completely untrue, he was a great Edna and had people laughing and applauding all the way through. The thing with him is that during Timless To Me, both nights including another my friend went to see he broke out laughing during the "I didnt know you were Jewish .. you cant always tell" part which the first time I saw was hillarious becaues I love when people break characters, and people yelled from the audience which made it even more hillarious, but made me question the second night it happened if it was planned or its actually him not being able to controll his laughter, either way hes a great Edna.

Brooklynn Pulver was a great Tracy - she was able to capture the emotion of the characters and has an AMAZING singing voice, she was able to connect with the audience straight from the beginning. I couldn't find a thing wrong with her.

Dan Feretti as Wilbur I was so suprised by this man - great acting, and even better singing voice, its hard to say what it sounds like - but man it was a pleasure to be able to hear him twice because he was that good.

Yvette Monique Clark - had to be one of the highlights of the show. Her Motor Mouth Maybel was out of this fn world. My god... She has one of the best voices I have ever heard in my entire life - I couldnt belive the voice that came outta her mouth she blew the audience right outta their seats.
I could listen to that woman sing time and time again

Alyssa Malgeri hillarious as Penny she had the audience in stitches. To be honest when I was watching the footage from the website I thouhgt I would absolutely hate her - but man was I wrong, she had me laughing so hard during I Can Hear the Bells and throughout the show, that girls good, not to mention has talent for being able to chew gum and sing at the same time.

Constantine Rousouli, man I hate this guy - only because im so jealous of him. Being only 18, yeah thats right fn 18 and on his first tour makes me jealous, not to mention he was amazing as Link, has a great voice and is perfect for the part, and again for only being 18, I have to give the guy credit for doing what hes doing cause man everyone loved the guy

Christian White is the epitome of Seaweed, the guy is funny, can sing and knows what the hell he is doing with Alyssa as Penny by his side those guys are one hell of a comedy team.

The only downfall to this production actually has to be the Von Tussles. Pearl Thomas who plays Amber has a great singing voice, but her comedic timing is a little off, and you can see that she really struggles and tries hard to get laughs. I had an understudy for Velma both nights, and I didnt catch her name because there were no slips just announcements, but she didnt appeal to me, she looked more like Ambers sister than mother. She didnt fit the image of Velma because she was Tall, and honestly a size 0, and she wasnt as stern as a Velma should be and her voice sounded like Joan Collins, so the audience didn't really attach to her much since her timing was off also. She did forget a line in which Jerry had to prompt her about, but you can't really hold that against someone becaues it happens to us all.

As stated there were a few bloopers - forgotten lines - laughing, but there were a few more.

During I Can Hear the Bells - Velma was unable to open the 'organ' during the first preformance I saw you could see her stuggling to open it b pulling up but she wasn't able to get it open but still mimed playing it anyways? - The second night she was able to get it open by pulling DOWN instead of up, but again she was an understudy so what could you do.

The second night during Welcome to the 60's - the doors on the Hefty Hideaway kept opening, and Mr. Pinky amoung others had to keep them closed while Edna and Tracy changed, so I missed what was going onstage because I was too busy concentrating on how they were going to deal with the doors. Also the first night too we were so high we could see behind the houses that we could see the quick changes and concentrated more on that than again what was going on stage so I have NO idea the choreography or what goes on stage during Welcome to the 60's.


But overall I am so pleased that I was able to see this twice, and I if I could I would go see it again and again - but sadly it has moved onto another city, and also you could see that some people were upset that this was the end of the Ottawa leg on the Tour I would love for them to come back... because the cast was perfect, the ensemble amazing,

If anyone wants to see video go to www.hairspraythetour.com and under the pictures/vid section there is an INTENSE ammount of B-Roll footage of pretty much everyone and you guys can hear what im raving about.

Thanks again Hairspray cast for a good two preformances!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 7:40pm

"...we were so high..."

I thought you were going another way with that one, but I was wrong.

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 7:41pm

hahaha no no no no
-- the first nite our seats were on the 3rd balcony above the orchestra so we were up in the rafters - than moved down to the 6th row at intermission

[MrBundles]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 7:44pm

what did you think of Tiiu Rebane?

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 7:47pm

I think Tiiu was actually who was our Velma, so look at the Velma review for her. Because both nites were Understudies for Velma, and the Matron etc, so im assuming Tiiu who regularly playes the Matron etc, was moved to Velma therefore the reason for the understudy needed for the Matron

[MrBundles]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 7:48pm

ooooh interesting-thanks!

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 7:56pm

why do you ask

[MrBundles]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 7:58pm

just curious :P

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 8:05pm

Gah...this needs to stop by Toronto for a little visit.

Akiva

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 8:11pm

It will be in London Ontario for 2 days in MAY -- thats close enugh

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 8:15pm

Hmmm...we'll have to see. Maybe some of my friends will want to check it out.

Akiva

[Broadwayfanatic2]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 8:33pm

I wish I could have made it... Do you live in Ottawa? Cause the 07-08 season is pretty impressive. I'm probably going to see The Phantom of the Opera in August. I can't wait!

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 8:35pm

No here for school - I saw some ladys talking about the next season .. whats coming? Phantom.. Mamma Mia and what else?

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 8:36pm

Minor threadjack: All you Ottawa folk should go see Helen's Necklace at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in April-May. I am assistant designer on it!

Akiva

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 8:38pm

Ohhh -- Cats, Evita, Mamma Mia!, Phantom

Sadly I really dont want to see any of those, or already have seen them

[BtMartin25]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 8:46pm

Hey, FYI Tiiu is no longer with the tour. Many of the original non-eq tour cast is already becoming replaced.

Did anyone happen to see Laurie Veldheer (Brenda, Tracy/Penny u/s) go on as Tracy?

[MrBundles]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 8:48pm

thanks for the info BtMartin!

[JustChillin8908]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:02pm

I saw the tour when it came to Kalamazoo and I thought Pearl didn't have too great of a voice. Her rendition of "Cooties" was terrible! Although I do think she did a good job acting-wise.

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 9:10pm

She has to be still in .. if shes in the program

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 3/19/07 at 11:45pm

"She has to be still in .. if shes in the program"

Not necessarily. Tour playbills/programs are often out of date.

[Scaulter]

Posted: 3/20/07 at 2:49am

I saw the tour and think that Constantine Rousouli has definitely a good career ahead of him. He's obviously has stage presence and can definitely sing. Good looks and talent. It's also a very good show.

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 3/20/07 at 3:24am

No this one is up to date. Its printed here in Ottawa, its not a playbill that the tour itself gives out.

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 3/20/07 at 3:24am

100% jealous of Constantine .. damn guy got a job right outta highschool.

[MrBundles]

Posted: 3/20/07 at 4:09am

well programs are often printed a day or two before shows, but the information like cast list and bios are often sent to the venue months before.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 3/20/07 at 8:21am

Defying, most tour playbills are printed by the venue. However, they are receiving the info to include in the playbills weeks, sometimes months ahead of time. That is why they are often out of date.