Birmingham Hippodrome – until 21st September 2024
Reviewed by Emma Millward
5*****
Starting life as a 1988 cult comedy film by outrageous director John Waters, Hairspray was transformed into a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, with a book by Mark O’ Donnell and Thomas Meehan. Later made into a 2007 film starring John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer among others. Having played Motormouth Maybelle in many versions of the show, this production marks Brenda Edward’s directorial debut alongside Paul Kerryson.
Set in 1960’s Baltimore, Maryland, the show follows Tracy Turnblad (Alexandra Emerson -Kirby making her professional theatrical debut in spectacular fashion), an overweight teenager with a big heart and even bigger hair, whose main goals in life are to win the heart of the school heartthrob Link Larkin (Solomon Davy) and to dance on her favourite TV show ‘The Corny Collins Show’.
The show is hosted, of course, by Corny Collins (Declan Egan) and features predominately white dancers, except once a month when the show has a ‘Negro Day’ hosted by Motormouth Maybelle (Michelle Ndegwa.) Tracy faces much prejudice as she is much bigger than the other dancers on the show, and she is immediately rejected by the show’s producer, Velma Von Tussle (played with devilish glee by Joanne Clifton), who is disgusted by Tracy’s thoughts on making the show totally integrated for dancers of all colours. Velma doesn’t want anybody overshadowing her daughter Amber (Alana Taylor) and her quest for fame. In detention, Tracy meets Motormouth’s son Seaweed (Reece Richards), who falls for Tracy’s best friend Penny (Freya McMahon, also making her theatrical debut). Penny is a ball of nervous energy and one of my favourite characters in Hairspray.
Although the entire cast is outstanding, the stand-out performances for me were Tracy’s parents, Edna (Neil Hurst) and Wilbur (Dermot Canavan) who provide touching but hilarious moments throughout the show. Their performance of ‘You’re Timeless to Me’ made the audience roar with laughter with their little ad-libbed moments that made the performers themselves struggle to hold their own giggles in. Michelle Ndegwa as Motormouth Maybelle also shone, especially in her show-stopping performance of the hardest hitting song in the show, ‘I Know Where I’ve Been’. A song that always brings tears to my eyes, and hearing it performed live and with such emotion definitely had the same effect on me. Although a seasoned performer with bands such as The Gorillaz, Ndegwa is making her theatrical debut in this production, and she definitely has a bright future ahead of her.
The set design by Takis is quite minimal, but clever in its design. We switch between scenes almost seamlessly with sets sliding in and out of the walls at the side. The costumes (also by Takis) are breathtaking, from beautiful pastel prom dresses to bright colourful suits, and, of course, lots of glitter and sparkles for the big finale. A musical is nothing without good songs. There are no ‘filler’ songs in Hairspray, and they were all met with rapturous applause and approval from the audience. By the finale of ‘You Can’t Stop The Beat’, the crowd were up out of their seats and ready to dance like it was 1962!!!