Hairspray, Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton - review
Let’s face it: as dreary February comes shivering to a close, who doesn’t need brightening up? Enter hit musical Hairspray which arrived at Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre last night.
From the opening scene with the oh-so familiar Good Morning Baltimore, the mood is set and we’re in for some high octane fun.
Rosie O’Hara stepped into the role of Tracy Turnblad last night, and from the moment she rolled out of her giant bed, she was tremendous.
With her big hair and big personality, it’s 1962 and she’s on a mission to dance her way onto national TV courtesy of The Corny Collins Show.
But tensions abound, from the rollercoaster of mother-daughter relationships, to racism which dictates that the black and white dancers can’t partner each other on the show.
On the one hand there’s Tracy, with her good heart and supportive parents and on the other there’s her rival Amber, with her nasty words and manipulative, pushy mother Velma.
See a trailer for the show here:
While Tracy’s mum Edna, as tradition dictates, is almost a pantomime dame, played here by a wonderful Matt Rixon, her rendition of You’re Timeless to Me with husband Wilbur, charmingly played by Graham MacDuff, beautifully combines humour with tenderness.
Every performer on the stage is blessed with a superb voice and the biggest of which rightly belongs to Brenda Edwards as the 'fan-tastic' Motormouth Maybelle.
Yet her performance of I Know Where I’ve Been is also filled with gentle poignancy bringing some of the loudest applause of the night.
And there was plenty to applaud as the show zings along with energy and feel-good fun.
There’s the local heart throb Link Larkin, played by Edward Chitticks channelling his inner Elvis, and a feisty yet sweet Monifa James as Little Inez.
Offering up a kooky sidekick to our heroine Tracy is Penny Pingleton cutely played by Annalise Liard-Bailey, while her beau Seaweed is played with breath-taking zeal by Layton Williams whose moves are just brilliant.
Complementing the exuberant characters are the costumes and set which are candy coloured confections - the boys kitted out in drainpipe legged suits and the girls in a rainbow of big-skirted dresses.
By the time we carousel towards the sparkling finale with You Can’t Stop the Beat, fans are getting up onto their feet.
And rightly so. This is a show well worth letting your hair down for.
Hairspray is on until Saturday.
