|
|
|
|
|
Conley makes it a very good hair day
Edna and Tracy, Brian Conley and Laurie Scarth, lead the way in a five star production Hairspray Birmingham Hippodrome ***** IF EVER you wanted a
definition of a of feel good musical then you don't really need to look
any further than Hairspray.
It is fast -paced, high energy, full of tunes and songs which are sort
of familiar and most of all it is fun. All right, if you want to be picky, it is at the
meringue end of musical theatre, lightweight, fluffy, sugary sweet and
with very little substance - it doesn't even have a song destined to
become a standard - but it is glorious, unadulterated fun. For a couple of hours at least you can leave all your
troubles and worries behind and immerse yourself in the bubblegum world
of Enda Turnblad and her daughter Tracy, The Corney Collins Show
and Baltimore in the 1960s. Tracy dreams of becoming a dancer on the Corney
Collins teen dance show and when she finally makes it she becomes an
overnight sensation. She then uses her new found fame to become an
unlikely civil rights leader battling for integration on the show. The plot is based on John Water's 1988 comedy film
which in turn was based, loosely, on a real live teenage TV show in
Baltimore, The Buddy Deane Show, a sort of Top of The Pops,
which had a white audience only policy except for every other Friday
when it was just black teenagers dancing to the music acts. Black and
white teens dancing together would of course have thrown the earth out
of its orbit and destroyed mankind. This was black OR white TV - until
1963 that is when an invasion of the studio during the show by black and
white teenagers signalled the end of segregation on the show.
Hardly a promising subject, rather like doing a
musical about Rosa Parks or the Greensboro Woolworth's lunch counter
sit-in of 1960. But despite the subject and the fact anyone under 60
is unlikely to remember the segregation and marches, the injustice and
brutality or the hope carried by Martin Luther King and the likes of
Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, Hairspray not only works but is
infectious. The music is familiar because it uses riffs and styles
people who remember that era grew up with while the show is just so full
of colour and dancing that feet hardly need any encouragement to start
tapping. Along with the music there are also plenty of laughs - although
quite a few of the one-liners will go straight over the heads of
audience members without a bus pass. Who Eddie Fisher? Who Debbie Reynolds? Meanwhile Laurie Scarth as Tracy is full of life from
when the curtain opens and she is dreaming and singing in her bed while
Gillian Kirkpatrick as the TV show's producer, Velma Von Tussle, schemes
with the best of them .Her spoilt brat of a daughter Amber is played
with a nice comic touch by Clare Halse who has developed a scram that
could be used to break anvils. Both girls are battling for the attentions of Link Larkin, Baltimore's answer to Elvis, played with a youthful innocence by Liam Doyle who has a pleasant voice to boot. SEXY STUNNER As for Tracy's friend, Penny Pingleton, played
beautifully by Emma Dukes, she lives up to the Hollywood tradition
whereby the plain, gawky one with glasses and no sense of rhythm and who
gets every dance wrong is always going to turn out to be the sexy
stunner if you wait long enough. The wait in this case was very
worthwhile for Seaweed, Penny's black boyfriend (is the earth still
spinning we ask?) played by Wayne Robinson - and our Wayne can't
half dance. Sandra Marvin as Motormouth Maybelle, Seaweed's dear
old mum, might not have the biggest part but she certainly has the
biggest voice and her powerful I Know Where I've Been is almost
worth the price of admission alone. Star quality is elusive. You can't teach it or learn
it or even earn it. You either have it or you don't and Brian Conley has
it in spades. He is the consummate showman and although he is hardly
needed to lift what is an excellent cast he certainly adds a touch of
razzmatazz, ably assisted by Les Dennis as husband Wilbur. Their front
of curtain duet is one of the highlights of the show. I saw the show earlier in the run at The Grand and
after a few more months on the road it has bedded down into a real
cracker - pure entertainment. After a night like that a standing ovation
was a gimme. To 06-11-10 Roger Clarke
|
|
|
|
