Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Theater Review: Hairspray

By Mark-Brian Sonna of MBS Productions

What fun!

Hairspray, the John Waters film turned Broadway Musical turned Movie Musical, has gotten better as it has aged. The story is about a young overweight girl named Tracy Turnblad who dreams of joining an afternoon dance TV program called the Corny Collins Show. In the process she’s rejected and discriminated against because of her size, makes friends with other black kids who suffer daily discrimination, forges a bond with them, finds a boyfriend in the TV show’s lead performer, and eventually integrates the program. It’s an outlandish story that makes you laugh, acknowledge the ugly truth about our country, yet still make you feel good. It also has some of the most memorable characters: all roles are delicious. This show is a performer’s dream come true. The music is toe-tapping fresh, and it has one of the best musical scores.

There are two gimmicks to the show. The first being that Tracy Turnblad is played by an unkown who has never really done much professional theatre: ideally a complete amateur. The other is that Tracy’s mother Edna is played by a man. Ricki Lake and Divine respectively originated the roles in the original film. For Divine, it was to be his last film, and it was the most completely nuanced and in my estimation by far the best performance of his career. Ms. Lake has gone on to do other projects but to me nothing compares to her turn at being the original Tracy. On Broadway, Harvey Firestein took the role of Edna to innumerable accolades. In the film John Travolta had his turn with the same character. After Divine’s performance, all that have followed were smart in not trying to copy him, each performer has given their own stamp to the character. Also the musical Edna is different then the film Edna: she has to sing AND dance. Jerry O’Boyle’s take on this character did something I never thought would happen: He made me forget about Divine, Firestein and Travolta!

Brooklynn Pulver

Where has Jerry O’Boyle been all my life? I went to his website and learned that he’s worked in regional theatre most of his life. This man has the charisma and the talent of some of the best in the business. He along with Dan Ferretti, who plays her husband Wilbur, brought down the house. There’s a reason certain numbers are called showstoppers. Their duet "You’re Timeless with Me" was perhaps one of the best moments I’ve ever seen of live theatre in my life. That song along is worth the price of admission alone and tickets aren’t cheap! Yes, it was that phenomenal.

The other amazing performers are Brooklynn Pulver and Taylor Frey. Pulver is a fantastic Tracy, she too made me forget about all the performers before her. I must admit I have a crush on Zac Efron, so I was wondering how Link, the heartthrob, as played by Taylor Frey was going to do. I now have a possibly illegal crush on Mr. Frey. This kid is a true triple threat: he dances magnificently, sings amazingly, and acts wonderfully. Oh and he’s dreamy to look at too.

The only character whose portrayal fell a bit flat was Velma Von Tussle as played by Jacqueline Grabois. It was a little over the top. While most of the characters in this story are caricatures, there’s room for some subtleties which make them click with the audience. Ms. Grabois’ Velma played her as a one note Grinch. This said, Ms. Grabois does have a great set of pipes, and a dynamic stage presence. She was good, but just needed to turn it down a notch.

The other wonderful thing about this show is that it’s about teens and the cast really looked like they were. The energy was real, though the first act came across a bit canned. The show is impeccably staged and the timing is to the millisecond precise. It felt a bit like everyone was on autopilot. The show was still immensely enjoyable, but it didn’t feel as spontaneous. Something happened during intermission or perhaps something was said because Act 2 blew me and the audience away. Maybe it was because this was their first night in Dallas with an audience and they had to warm up to the locale?

This show is spectacularly fun.

No mugs for sale on this show either…I even checked at intermission. I bought a t-shirt. A bright hot pink t-shirt with the word “Hairspray” emblazoned on it, now if I could find a way to get O’Boyle and (gulp) Frey to sign it.

Hairspray presented by Dallas Summer Musicals runs through Sunday, June 29 and tickets can be purchased online or by calling 214-631-ARTS.

Pegasus News content partner - MBS Productions

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