“Hairspray” Opens The Muny’s 108th Season With Free-Wheeling Fun and...
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“Hairspray” opens Muny Season with upbeat message and great Music
“Hairspray” Opens The Muny’s 108th Season
With Free-Wheeling Fun and a Danceable Beat
by Pat Lindsey
Fans of the musical, “Hairspray,” are filling the seats of The Muny this week to see this beloved show launch the theater’s 108th season. No matter how many times you’ve seen “Hairspray” in the past, you’ve never seen it like this. After listening to the comments made after the show by my friends and fellow theater-goers, I can report that this is the best production of “Hairspray” they (and I!) have ever seen.
Director Seth Sklar-Heyn has created a fun and freewheeling show that exudes talent. From the moment Tracy Turnblad (Katy Geraghty) bursts onto the stage belting out, “Good Morning, Baltimore!” to the entire company closing the show with, “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” the energy never ceases. It not only delivers pure delight, but it makes the audience feel uplifted. For those who remember American Bandstand, early R & B, rock ‘n’ roll and ratted hair, welcome back to the ’60s.
The year is 1962 and teenager Tracy Turnblad is obsessed with watching the Corny Collins Show on her family’s black and white television set. She’s also enamored with teen heartthrob, Link Larkin (Ben Jackson Walker), who is a regular on the show. Link has been romantically linked to Amber Von Tussle (Madison Thompson), who also regularly dances on the show. Amber just happens to be the daughter of the show’s producer, Velma Von Tussle (Sara Gettelfinger). Tracy is determined to find a way to dance on that show–hopefully with Link.
Tracy’s mother, Edna (veteran actor of stage, screen and TV, Richard Kind), adores her, but wishes Tracy would spend more time on her studies and less time watching TV. Edna is a timid housewife who launders, mends, and irons other people’s clothes to earn some household money. Tracy’s father, Wilbur (John Bolton), is a bumbling sweetie who runs a joke shop on the floor below their apartment. Wilbur and Edna melt hearts when they sing, “You’re Timeless to Me.”
A sign of the times is Negro Day. That’s the one day each month when black kids are allowed to dance on the Corny Collins Show. If Tracy had it her way, every day would be Negro Day. She loves the black music and she sees no difference between the black kids and the white ones. Tracy is a pioneer in the civil rights movement. She even says, “Integration is the new frontier.” Her frequent stints in detention have taught her that “detention is a rainbow experience.” It’s where she meets her good friend, Seaweed J. Stubbs (Nicholas A. Wilkinson), who later introduces Tracy to his sister, Little Inez (Joy Elizabeth Rhodes), and his mother, Motormouth Maybelle (Charity Angel Dawson). These newest friends not only thicken the plot but add eye-popping dancing and goosebump-raising singing to the show.
Paul Schwensen is an excellent Corny Collins who keeps the TV show moving. Little Inez (Rhodes) is small, but mighty, as she sings and dances with the best of them. She’s a good match for her mama, Motormouth Maybelle (Dawson), whose delivery of “I Know Where I’ve Been” gave me chills from head to toe.
Tracy finds her way onto the Corny Collins Show by winning a contest and confidently sings, “I Can Hear the Bells” on TV. Link almost instantly falls in love with her. Together, they anger Amber (Thompson) and sing,”It Takes Two.” They also leave Amber without a partner when they join the entire company in dancing The Madison.
What makes this production so outstanding is the vibrant choreography by Jesse Robb, a terrific ensemble of singers and dancers of all ages, a cast of some of the most talented people to ever grace The Muny stage, and a brilliant score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman beautifully performed by The Muny orchestra under the direction of Evan Roider. The Muny’s use of technology on stage gets better and better. It enhances the colorful sets exponentially, as we watch the Corny Collins Show on several synchronized TV screens that fill the stage.
“Hairspray” will be playing at The Muny through Father’s Day, June 21. Make it your official start to summer and the first of The Muny’s fantastic lineup of shows this season. You can’t stop this beat! For more information, go to muny.org.
