Hairspray Tour- Page 2

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 3:21pm

BrodyFosse...you're killing me...and it burns my English major butt too.

Looks like someone else discovered the "Cheezburger" site--my daughter sends me those at work.

Saw the tour last year with Jerry O'Doyle and Brooklyn Pulver and it rocked...unlike the lifeless "Mamma Mia" tour that passed through a few months prior, this one practically equalled Broadway in terms of quality.

It also had a one-night stand here (Albany NY) this past March.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 5:34pm

has anyone see it with Amy Toporek as Tracy yet??? She's only in it for 8 weeks as Brooklyn is out with an injury.

[defyingravity07]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:52pm

Brooklynn is back they are going to Dallas and then China for a month. They will be off the rest of the summer. Brooklynn did resign for 2009.

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 10:21pm

Even though it is sad to hear she resigned for 09 atleast it'll give someone else the chance to perform. When the ensemble call goes out im going to audition.

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 11:09pm

Brooklyn has been with the show since 2006, so I completely understand.

[defyingravity07]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 11:12pm

Ohhh, not not resigned RE-Signed she will still be on tour in 2009.

[antonijan]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 11:35pm

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=965729&dt=23&boardid=1

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 6:00pm

How long are they in China for anyone know?

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 8:57pm

"Brooklynn is back they are going to Dallas and then China for a month. "

Updated On: 7/27/08 at 08:57 PM

[theminutepast]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 6:45pm

Has anyone seen the tour lately? Is it worth seeing? I've never seen Hairspray live, but I don't want to see a mediocre production for my first time.

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 6:53pm

I saw it last Thursday. The cast is in top form but the production values went down. They cut:

1. The REAL bead curtain
2. The Turnblad home pod thing.
3. the ladder thing in Without Love.

It is more barebones than when it originally went out.

Note: Motormouth is NOT played by Angela Birchett, as on the site, but by Lisa Linette, who is VERY good.

I would say go if the tickets are cheap & don't be expecting wowing sets.

P.S. When I saw it the light board BROKE right after YCSTB. The big computer error message showed up on it & the lights started going out one by one.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:10pm

TimeSquare,
The NETworks tour hasn't been downsized at all from when it went out. I believe it is actually slightly larger.
Based on your posting and knowing how the tour operates, it would be that the theater wasn't large enough to house the entire set. It happens on occasion based on the venue for this tour. several stops have necessitated cutting the dance towers and living room pod. Depending on the venue, several of the drops may have to be cut due to lack of available fly space.
By "bead" curtain, I assume you are referring to the main "hair" show curtain. The touring productions have ALWAYS utilized a painted drop instead of the 3,000 pound 3-D drop used in the sit down productions. Due to the additional swag on the base for the "hair" effect in the final scene, the drop requires more fly space than most, so if there isn't appropriate fly height, it must be cut as well..
None of this is due to the tour being downsized in any way. It is due to venue limitations.

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:15pm

I saw the show in the same venue 2 years before, it is scaled back farther. The only thing that wasn't there then was the scaffolding.

Updated On: 1/28/09 at 07:15 PM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:19pm

Where is the venue located?
It could be a loading time issue, particularly with bad weather delaying transportation.

I can state with 100% factual certainty that the Hairspray tour has NOT been scaled back in any way. Any variance would be based on venue limitations.

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:24pm

The Forum Theatre in Binghamton, New York.

Updated On: 1/28/09 at 07:24 PM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:28pm

Oh, okay. I can't speak to the specific situation, but I DO know that there WERE difficulties encountered with the Binghamton run.

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:32pm

Ohhh like what?

[theminutepast]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:52pm

How do you get rid of the ladder in Without Love? Is Seaweed just lurking in Penny's house now?

The tickets are cheap; I'm tempted to go.

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 8:02pm

Well I was refering to the scafolding, BUT the ladder I believe isn't in the show. You infer that Penny's headboard is against a window & Seaweed enters from there.

[theminutepast]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 8:09pm

Oh, I understand now.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 8:36pm

Like I said, I am not sure of what the situation was, but I did hear that there was difficulty with the stop. Particularly with one night stands and bad weather such as this, it is often a VERY tight turn around.

depending on the stop, Seaweed sometimes will make his entrance from the stage, in front of the false proscenium.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 9:06pm

I saw the tour in may of 07 it was fantastic when I saw it seaweed made his entrance from the pit.
Updated On: 1/28/09 at 09:06 PM

[Bodes08]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 10:33pm

I saw the tour this past Sunday nigh in Erie, PA.
I had seen the tour last March as well in Pittsburgh.

It was a one night only show in Erie, so a lot of things weren't used, which was disappointing...but understandable. It seems kind of pointless to set some of the bigger things up when its only going to be one show. So in that sense, the Pittsburgh stop was better since it was multiple shows.

I did, however, enjoy this cast much more. The only same people that were in the Erie performance from the Pitt performance were Brooklynn and Jerry, who are still fantastic.
But I found the rest of this new cast to be so much better.
Amber Rees as Penny was perfect.
And I even saw the Amber u/s and she was brilliant.
Motormouth was amazing. Her rendition of I Know Where I've Been was breathtaking.
So cheers to this cast. They were great.

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 10:40pm

I also saw the Amber understudy on Thursday. Did Ariel Page (Velma) do the seizure thing as the curtain was coming down on Velma's Revenge?

[Bodes08]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 1:16pm

She did do the seizure thing. But she was funny.

And I really enjoyed the Amber u/s. Would you agree?
She reminded me a lot of LBB which I actually liked. She even kind of looked like her. And she had the same comedic sense of LBB.