HAIRSPRAY


Hairspray remains as fresh and fabulous at the ripe old age of 21 as it was when it made its Broadway debut back in 2002, and if you doubt my words, check out the spiffy National Tour now stopping at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre.

Based on John Waters’ 1988 cult film of the same name, the Best Musical Tony winner stars a full-figured teenager named Tracy Turnblad, whose dream to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a 1962 Baltimore version of American Bandstand, would seem the most impossible of dreams.

Anyone familiar with Waters’ movie or its Broadway musical adaptation (book by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, songs by Shaiman and Scott Wittman) knows that Tracy is the daughter of a woman of ample proportions and a heart of mush named Edna Turnblad, a role originated on film by John Waters’ drag queen muse Divine and on Broadway by the one-and-only Harvey Fierstein.

Despite some extra pounds and a then shockingly progressive attitude towards integration, Edna’s pride-and-joy does indeed make that dream come true, leaving only two more tasks for her to accomplish: a) making “Negro Day” more than a once-a-month Corny Colins Show event and b) winning the love of local teen heartthrob Link Larkin.

Since Hairspray is the quintessential happy-ending musical, there’s little doubt about our pleasingly plump heroine’s success in both endeavors.

Besides being every bit as “big, blond(ish), and beautiful” (and outrageously funny and talented) as the many Edna Turnblad’s before him, National Tour star Andrew Levitt may be the most believable Edna yet, Levitt’s alter ego being RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant (and Miss Geniality winner) “Nina West.” (In other words, Edna’s not the first time Levitt’s walked in stiletto heels.)

It helps enormously to have the musical’s original Broadway associate director Matt Lenz helming the 2022-23 tour, and though he’s since directed multiple incarnations in the intervening two decades, Lenz has clearly allowed this latest cast considerable freedom to make these characters their own.

Niki Metcalf is everything you want Tracy Turnblad to be—bright and bouncy and bubbly and big-voiced, whether extolling the virtues of her hometown in Hairspray’s bang-up opener “Good Morning Baltimore” or swooning over Link in “I Can Hear The Bells” or insisting to Mama Edna that she’s a “Big Girl Now.”

Nick Cortazzo makes for the dreamiest of dreamboats as Link Larkin and Charlie Bryant III’s sexy, sassy Seaweed J. Stubbs gives him a Link for his money in the teen heartthrob department.

Ryahn Evers could easily provide your favorite movie or TV mean girl with tough competition as Amber Von Tussle, the blonde beauty you love to hate, and Emery Henderson is geeky perfection as Tracy’s adorably awkward bff Penny Pingleton.

As for the adults, Velma Von Tussles don’t get any more deliciously diabolical than Addison Garner; Motormouth Maybelles don’t get any more fantabulous than Sandie Lee, whose passionate “I Know Where I’ve Been” is an eleventh-hour stunner; and Levitt could not have asked for a funnier or more loving pipsqueak of a hubby than Ralph Prentice Daniel’s Wilber, and never more so than in the couple’s infectiously romantic soft-shoe duet “(You’re) Timeless To Me.”

The multitasking Greg Kalafatas and Emmanuelle Zeesman steal every scene they’re in as the wildest and wackiest Adult Authority Figures Baltimore has to offer, Billy Dawson’s Corny Collins fills American Bandstand’s Dick Clark’s and Grease’s Vince Fontaine’s shoes quite terrifically indeed, Joi D. McCoy is a petite ball of fire as Little Inez, and Sydney Archibald, Melanie Puente Ervin, and Jade Turner make it crystal clear how the Supremes-meet-Dreamgirls Dynamites got their name.

Robbie Roby’s infectious, high-energy choreography may take as its inspiration Jerry Mitchell’s original moves, but he’s clearly added more of his own, giving “Nicest Kids In Town” Kelly Barberito (Tammy), Tommy Betz (Fender), Helene Britany (Shelley), Craig First (Brad), Annie Gagen (Louanne), Carly Haig (Brenda), Clint Maddox Thompson (I.Q.), and Mickey White (Sketch) plenty of opportunities to show off their dance chops, and the same can be said for detention regulars Lauren Johnson (Lorraine), Kyle Kavully (Thad), Nicholas Dion Reese (Duane), and Sage (Gilbert).

Audiences who’ve seen Hairspray on tour anytime over the past two decades will recognize David Rockwell’s snazzy sets, William Ivey Long’s period-perfect period costumes, and Paul Huntley and Bernie Ardia’s bouffant hair and wigs, but they look fresh and new under Paul Miller’s pizzazzy lighting (based on Kenneth Posner’s original design), especially combined with Patrick W. Lord’s video design (not part of the Broadway original) that adds oodles of oomph to what is already a proven design package.

Last but not least, sound designer Shannon Slaton provides an expert mix of amped vocals and the production’s live orchestra led by musical director Julius LaFlamme.

Caroline Eiseman, Alex Fullerton, Sabrina Joseph, Matthew J. Kelly (assistant dance captain), McLaine Meachem, Faith Northcutt (dance captain), and Micah Sauvageau are swings. Luke Meyer is company manager. Emily Kritzman is production stage manager and Megan Belgam is assistant stage manager.

I wouldn’t have seen eighteen different productions of Hairspray if I didn’t absolutely love this show. Its ab-fab 21st-anniverary tour makes me love it even more.

Dolby Theatre, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood.
www.BroadwayInHollywood.com

–Steven Stanley
May 2, 2023
Photos: Jeremy Daniel

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