"Hairspray" tour in great shape

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 4:35pm

I had the opportunity to catch the non-Equity tour of "Hairspray" in Lexington, KY this past Friday and found the show to be in great shape. I caught the show twice on the last leg of the Equity tour and found this version to be every bit its equal.

The show has been scaled down again--no silhoutted back-up singers, set pieces that once were automated now are pushed on and off stage, and the "scaffold" (for lack of a better word) is now missing from "Without Love." And it doesn't harm the show in the slightest! If there has been a catchier, more tuneful score in the past five years, I haven't heard it. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman have written a score with hummable melodies and laugh-out-loud lyrics.

Expect to hear more of Brooklyn Pulver who plays Tracy. She hits the ball out of the park on "Good Morning Baltimore" and never looks back. I especially liked her in "I Can Hear the Bells," probably my favorite number in the show. Though Pulver is superb in the role, she is surrounded by others who are equally talented. I loved Jerry O'Boyle's take on Edna Turnblad. He does what every good actor should do with this role: he makes us believe he's a woman, not a man in drag. Edna is an easy role to overplay and he doesn't give in to the temptation. His transformation in "Welcome to the 60s" and his entrance in "You Can't Stop the Beat" brought down the house!

Great support came from Jarret Mallon as Corny, Alyssa Malgeri as Penny Pingelton, and Constantine Rousouli as Link.

Yvette Monique Clark got one of the evening's biggest ovations with her delivery of "I Know Where I've Been" and Dan Ferretti partnered nicely with O'Boyle's Edna on "(You're)Timeless to Me," a number that always gets a huge audience response.

By the time the entire company got to "You Can't Stop the Beat," the house was rocking!

I know there is much discussion on the board about the quality of non-Equity tours. All I can say is don't worry about this production of "Hairspray." It's worth your time and money!
Updated On: 11/13/06 at 04:35 PM

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 4:49pm

How does the set compare to the Broadway one?

Any photos of the cast/set?


Great review, btw

[o.0]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 4:54pm

When I saw Hairspray, my mother was convinced that Jerry O'Boyle was a woman! I had to point out his picture in the Playbill before she would believe that he was really a guy. So he really did do a great job!

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 6:08pm

DRSisLove:

Though I never saw the show on Broadway, I have seen many pics of the Broadway set. Things seem to look the same, but in most instances the set pieces seem smaller. The show's Broadway desingner David Rockwell is credited with set design of this tour. The tour website does have pics. Though the "Without Love" "scaffold" is pictured on the current tour website, it was not used in Lexington.
Updated On: 11/13/06 at 06:08 PM

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 6:12pm

Maybe the lack of scaffolding and silhoutted back up singers was only for Lexington, because I saw the show last Monday in Jackson and both were there. As you said though, the show was wonderful.

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 6:19pm

BroadwayBoy2

The venue where the show played in Lexington is very small (it seats just under a 1000 people). I'm guessing the theatre didn't have the technical capablity to handle the scaffolding and the silhoutted back up singers, though I didn't really miss either. The show was still a winner.