Hairspray – The
Broadway Musical
Mark O’Donnell & Thomas Meehan (Book); Marc Shaiman
(Music);
Scott Wittman & Marc Shaiman (Lyrics)
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| Katy Geraghty, Daniel T. Parker & Cast |
It is only fair to open this review of Oregon Shakespeare
Festival’s Hairspray – The Broadway Musical
with a warning: From the opening
“Good Morning Baltimore” to the finale “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” multiple
earworms will be implanted deep within your being that will ring forth in your
ears for days to come. Be further
cautioned that for at least a week or more, you will likely out of the blue
begin cutting the rug with some too-cool, ‘60s dance moves – no matter where
you are or who is watching.
These are the necessary hazards of having one helluva good
time at the OSF Hairspray production
that is Broadway-plus in every rock-n-roll, rollicking respect. But even more important to note: You will be moved by a production that also reminds
us what it means to be the despised, ridiculed ‘other’ in a majority,
prejudiced society – whether the difference is of skin color, economic class,
size of body, or physical/mental special needs.
And finally, as you leave wanting to burst into song with your heart
pounding like a drum, you will be inspired having witnessed what it looks like for
those disenfranchised by the majority to stand up, take charge, and make change
happen. What more could one ask from one
momentous, good-time evening of live theatre?
Tracy Turnblad is a high schooler – shorter and bigger than most of her classmates –
whose fondest dream is to be selected as one of the dancers on the local TV,
teen dance program, The Corny Collins
Show. That a girl who constantly
suffers the brunt of cruel, hallway bullying by Corny’s blondest and supposedly
prettiest dancer and Tracy’s classmate, Amber Von Tussle, does not phase Tracy
at all. After all, this is a girl who
greets one and all on her way to school with the widest of smiles singing “Good
Morning Baltimore” with an optimistic outlook that zings with the sheer joy of
life. – saluting total strangers bustling to work, kids from the ‘other side of
the tracks,’ homeless drunks, and even two, jolly rats popping out of the sewer.
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| Jenna Bainbridge & Katy Geraghty |
Proudly sporting a globe-shaped crown of hair that is ratted
and sprayed to the hilt, Katy Geraghty is a Tracy who exudes confidence, zeal,
and determination to the hilt. Not only
does she demonstrate time and again an ability to belt exuberantly the 1960’s-era
songs written by Marc Shaiman (music and lyrics) and Scott Wittman (lyrics),
this Tracy can dance up a storm in every style from the Freddie to the Frug,
from Shimmy to Swim, from Twist to Watusi.
And while every teen has her moments of being dramatic, when Tracy fawns
and falls over the heartthrob of her life – Corny
Collins and Elvis-wanna-be star, Link Larkin – every time she sees him her reactions
are like she was in the middle of an earthquake in their intensity, just
begging for a camera’s close-up on the black-and-white screen of a console TV
with its 15-inch screen.
 |
| Jonathan Luke Stevens, Katy Geraghty & Other Cast Members |
Jonathan Luke Stevens plays the ever-suave, perfect-looking
Link, who in fact does have the shakes and sounds of The King as demonstrated
when he grooves out in “It Takes Two,” a number where Tracy joins him after
sneaking onto his TV spot as the weekly dance program is showing live. As she breaks into spasms being near him, the
two are soon singing in electrifying harmony an ending that is topped with an
exclamatory kiss that surprises both of them. That smacker also sends shockwaves through all
of Baltimore as this over-sized girl not only makes it big-time on a show
usually starring only those much more petite, but she makes out with the hunky
star himself for all the world to see!
Even though Link has been the boyfriend of the
self-centered, bad-mannered, Hollywood-bound Amber (a convincingly obnoxious and
hateful Leanne A. Smith), Link begins to find much more beauty in Tracy. He even is warming up to and liking the idea
that Tracy’s best friends include the African-American kids in their school
that Amber and her friends avoid like the plague. These friends are the ones that Tracy
believes should not be confined to a once-a-month “Negro Day” program on
Corny’s show, but instead has caused a city-wide upheaval declaring in a TV
interview, “I’d make every day Negro Day” on TV.
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| Daniel T. Parker & David Kelly |
Tracy’s genuine regard for everyone as equal no matter what
the rest of the world says comes largely from parents who have taught her by their
everyday life to disregard the meanness and mocking of others. Tracy’s dad, Wilbur Turnblad (David Kelly),
is the good-hearted, always upbeat owner of the Har-De-Har Hut, an outlet for
novelties, whose inventions include exploding bubble gum and a
still-to-be-perfected, sofa-sized whoopee cushion. Her mom is the plus-plus-sized Edna, played
as in earlier productions of Hairspray in
proud drag by Daniel T. Parker, who stands all day at her ironing board as the
owner of “Edna’s Occidental Laundry.”
The differently sized couple from the very blue-collar part of town are
a Romeo and Juliet who can barely keep their hands off each other. They bring down the house when they sing and
dance “You’re Timeless to Me” in a number that is a hilarious and heart-warming
mixture of Vaudeville and 1950’s TV-variety shows (with a touch of Fred and Ginger thrown in for good measure).
Tracy’s being chosen to be a regular on the Corny Collins Show – hosted by a flashy,
fair-minded, and fine-voiced knock-off of Dick Clark played by Eddie Lopez – is
the worst nightmare of the show’s producer, Amber’s mom, Velma Von Tussle. That is especially true when suddenly the big-girl,
big-hair Tracy becomes an overnight sensation and is leading Amber in the
audience voting for “Miss Teenage Hairspray, 1962.” Velma is even more incensed that Tracy wants
to integrate her lily-white show, with Kate Mulligan releasing enough venom in
her portrayal of Velma to vie as a wicked witch more vile than any Disney ever
conceived. But when her Velma lets loose
in “Velma’s Revenge,” there is no doubt but that this witch can also sing up a
storm.
 |
| Christian Bufford & Jenna Bainbridge |
Tracy’s best friend, Penny Pingleton (Jenna Bainbridge), too
has to endure the pointed jabs of other kids because of a severe limp that has
led her to be shy and soft-spoken. Her lack of boldness changes when all of a
sudden she and an African-American kid, Seeweed J. Stubbs (Christian Bufford)
meet and fall gaga for each other. Both
Penny and Seeweed fortunately have several changes each to wow us with voices
that zing and dance moves that are split-leg snazzy. Eventually, together they are just sultry enough
to horrify Penny’s highly bigoted, prissy mom, appropriately named Prudy (a
outlandishly funny K. T. Vogt whose frozen, shocked, facial poses are a riot
and who is equally a comic star in roles as a gym teacher and a prison matron).
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| Kimberly Monks, Safiya Fredericks & Johnique Mitchell |
This outrageously talented cast includes too many to recognize
all, but a few more must be mentioned.
Young Tatem Beach is a big-voiced giant of an actor as she commands the
stage every time her Little Inez rings out in song and/or dance. Safiya Fredericks, Johnique Mitchell, and
Kimberly Monks – besides playing other school-girl roles – raise the roof as
“The Dynamites,” a Motown-like, sassy trio who take an already contagiously
delightful song with Tracy, Edna and others – “Welcome to the 60’s” – and send
it soaring even higher. Finally, Brent
Hinkley reigns supreme playing a number of quirky roles, including the
fabulously funny owner of the Hefty Hideaway clothes store, Mr. Pinky; the
evil, hair-challenged school principal who loves to hate and punish Tracy; and
the creepy sponsor of Corny’s hit show, Harriman F. Spritzer, who lives and
dies on the money he makes selling Ultra Clutch Hair Spray.
Nina Ball has brought from her San Francisco base her scenic
design genius to Ashland in creating the Baltimore, two-story brownstone where
the Turnbald’s live that converts to a record store and a TV studio in a
moment’s turn. The lighting of Jason
Lynch provides the accompanying flash and flair for a stage that extends into a
curved ramp near the audience, where powerful moments of both comic and
dramatic natures occur where they can be experienced more vividly by all. The costumes of Susan Tsu are yes, a parade
of early ‘60s looks by both teens and adults but becomce much more as sparkly
glitz explodes on stage in outfits so gaudy, outlandish, and sky-high over-the-top
that they become a show onto themselves.
Production number after number somehow just get better, thanks
to the choreography of Jacklyn Miller coupled with the directorial choices of
Christopher Liam Moore. Three sets of
moms and daughters – different as they can be on the surface – share three,
interlocking spotlights in a big-sounding “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now” in a
riotous round of rotating dressing tables where Tracy, Penny, and Amber try to
convince their protesting moms – all belting “Stop! Don’t! No! Please!” – that they
are ready to be independent. Funny is
just not adequate to describe the crazy, stop-and-start action and dance scenes
of “I Can Hear the Bells” where Tracy imagines an eventual trip down the aisle
with Link. When she and Link do have a
chance to sing expressing their teen hots for each other in “Without Love,”
Director and Choreographer collaborate for a rib-tickling love number where an
always moving jail cell’s set of bars separates the two but is never stationary
long enough to given them or us time to catch our breaths.
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| Greta Oglesby & David Kelly |
Tracy is in that jail cell because she has helped lead
protests against the TV station’s policy against kids of color dancing with
white kids. That street protest is
inspired by the encouragement of a grand dame who has spent a lifetime fighting
battles to be recognized as equal. Motormouth
Maybelle is the big-hearted, fearless mother of Seeweed and is the
African-American owner of a local record store and a stage performer in her own
right. She leads forth in a swinging,
swirling, and sexy “Big, Blonde and Beautiful,” trumpeting her mighty voice as
a full stage joins her in bringing Act One to a standing ovation close.
Later, Director Moore will make one of the most important
decisions of the production by placing Motormouth and all the African American
cast at the audience’s edge as she and they sing “I Know Where I Have
Been.” In that one number, Greta Oglesby
is able to describe in her deep, smoky voice a past life’s many pains followed
by breath-taking vocals that rise in evangelical testimony of hopes for a
future of true equality. While the
little white girl Tracy, her parents, and a few of her friends have stepped up
to join that fight, this production and this director make it clear that it is the
African American community and its heroes like Motormouth Oglesby that deserve
the real credit for victories like the final integration in 1962 of this rather
silly but altogether important, TV dance show in Baltimore.
And it is that victory as celebrated in the stage-filling,
theatre-rocking “You Can’t Stop the Beat” that brings the audience to its feet
for good, joining with this matchless and marvelous OSF cast in rejoicing one
hard-earned moment among thousands in the road to black-white equality. But as we clap with them in satisfied
triumph, how can we not realize that almost sixty years later in 2019 America,
that road still stretches too far out in front of us to an endpoint where there
is no longer the ‘other’ in this country?
Rating: 5 E
Hairspray – The
Broadway Musical continues through October 27, 2019 in the Agnus Bowmer Theatre at the Oregon Shakespeare
Festival. Tickets are available at www.osfashland.org.
Photos
by Jenny Graham
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