Almost ten years after its triumphant debut on Broadway, the eight-time Tony Award-winning musical HAIRSPRAY is making quite a resurgence lately, thanks to the plethora of regional theaters across the country that now have licenses to mount their own versions. It's a good thing, too, because the show is, for all intents and purposes, one of the funniest and most entertaining stage musicals of the modern era, and one that deserves an afterlife with a new crop of the nicest kids in town. Bursting with laughs and ear candy from heel to coif, the musical comedy is so infectiously joyful that it's really difficult to even nit-pick its miniscule flaws (and, seriously, there are very few to find).
With those imbedded traits already working in their favor, the wonderful folks over at Musical Theatre West have put on a very worthy, slam-dunk of a revival to open its 59th season. Recreating HAIRSPRAY with impressive moxie and a staggeringly talented cast, the production retains the original stage musical's high-energy, laugh-a-minute vibe while enveloping it with a freshness that new choreography and direction can bring. The show continues its brief run at the Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts in Long Beach, California through November 13.
While not as gargantuan of a production as, say, this past summer's star-studded but highly truncated iteration at the Hollywood Bowl, MTW's revival is still the grand, undiluted, full-tilt stage version (with a few scant trims here and there) that incorporates pretty much all of the original book and score, as well as the colorful sets and costumes that are remarkably on par with the Broadway and national tours that followed. Frankly, this revival is actually the preferable, better way to see the show—in all its intended unabashed glory—especially if you've never seen it live, or if you've only seen the well-received 2007 big-screen adaptation that starred Nikki Blonsky and John Travolta.
And as far as regional productions go, MTW's Broadway-caliber HAIRSPRAY is a genuinely enjoyable one, besting even the last batch of shows from the closing national tour that have rolled into the area in the past few years. With winning direction from Larry Raben coupled with fresh new dance moves from choreographer Lee Martino, this revival feels like a well-balanced combination of what worked in the original production and what this cast and venue bring to the material. Helped tremendously by the memorable songs penned by the brilliant songwriting team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the show is an aural delight as much as it is a visual extravaganza, channelling the sounds of the 60's with reverent honor (here brazenly referred to as "race music" by one of the more out-of-touch characters) while still being playfully of-the-moment. By the time we get to the dazzling finale of "You Can't Stop The Beat," you'll be stuck tapping that very beat even as you boogie out the door.
At the heart of this fun musical comedy—adapted from John Waters' cult 1988 film of the same name—is the always welcomed scenario that tracks the triumphant trajectory of an outcast. It's 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland. Happily rotund teen Tracy Turnblad (played wonderfully by So. Cal. newcomer Victoria Morgan) is a high school student with big dreams, big hair, and a refreshingly open mind. She and her sweet but dim-bulbed best friend Penny (scene-stealer Erin Watkins) are obsessed fans of the local TV program The Corny Collins Show, a daily pop music and dance showcase (with a once-a-month "Negro Day" for rhythm and blues music) aimed at teenagers. As expected, Both teens' mothers are disgusted by such televised "vulgarity."
Full of self-confidence that most girls today could use a huge dose of, Tracy—spurned by the possibility of dancing alongside her crush, Corny Collins dancer Link Larkin (heartthrob-y Derek Klena)—decides to audition to be on the show against her mother's wishes. But, eventually, proud mamma Edna (played convincingly by TV's Jim J. Bullock) changes her own mind once Tracy, to everyone's surprise, becomes a featured dancer on the show—with a little help from forward-thinker Corny Collins himself (David Engel).
