'Hairspray'
Hairspray by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, music by Marc Shaiman, based on the film written and directed by John Waters. Directed by Schele Williams.
With a large and talented company, the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company is presenting one of the funniest and finest Broadway musicals of the past decade, "Hairspray," on the mainstage of its lovely Vermont theater.
The tale of the integration of Baltimore television in the early 1960s, the show, at two hours and a half hours flies by as Tracy Turnblad, played by Marissa Perry, soars to unanticipated heights in teen romance, teen television and teen music.
Tracy is a popular, if overweight, high school girl with a crush on life. Her best friend Penny Pingleton, played by Eva Burger, is a pale white girl with a fear of losing her mother’s approval who finally makes the big break into young womanhood with a zest that gets the expected approval of the audience. As the boys these girls adore we have Seaweed Stubbs, played in an inoffensively charming manner by Eric LeJuan Summers and Link Larkin played with panache and an eerie Elvis style by Jay Armstrong Johnson. David Havasi is Corny Collins, the star of his own TV show.
Tom Aulino and Robert Jensen plays Tracy’s parents, Wilbur and Edna Turnblad and Seaweed’s mother, Motormouth Maybelle, is played by Thursday Farrar. A dynamite young woman named Kelly Porter plays Little Inez, Maybelle’s younger child and the Von Tussles, arch-villainesses both are played by Liz Kimball (daughter Amber) and Susan Haefner (mother Velma).
The story here is a simple one: whatever Tracy wants, she ultimately gets. That includes the boy of her dreams and a mother who’s both proud of her and beautiful in her own bulk. Tracy may have to struggle to get to where she wants to be, but you never doubt for a moment that she’ll make it there. That is both a strength and a weakness in this show. Tracy’s rise is clearly inevitable from the minute she rises from her bed and sings her anthem. Like Judy Garland in "A Star is Born," there is never a moment’s doubt. More than that you really don’t need to know.
As with so many actors before him in this role, Robert Jensen gives a very winning performance as Edna. Tall, stout, pudgy-faced and adorable, he pulls off every scene and number, especially his duet with Wilbur in the second act which does indeed stop the show. Havasi’s TV host is almost to cute to bear, but he handles that well and gives Corny Collins a reality that works very nicely. Johnson is another adorable actor in an extremely loveable role. It is almost as though the casting of these three parts was done with a stethoscope held to the heart. There is a curious "boing-boing" factor here. These three men are perfect fits for their roles.
Likewise Perry jumps into the shoes of heavier girls before her and makes us believe that she is too much to handle. She does it with a musical ability that is classy and refined. She belts, sings ballads, dances and acts with the best. She almost meets her match in the work of Kelly Porter and Thursday Farrar. Both women imbue their songs with soul and heart. They are instantly believable. So, sadly, is Susan Haefner. I am sure she cannot be as unlikeable as her Velma.
Howard Jones’ set, surrounded by a large TV is mobile and perfect. Karen Ann Ledger pulls out all the stops in designing the costumes and her work for Edna, Velma, Corny and Prudence Pingleton is especially notable. Michelle Habeck has done a fine job with the lighting design for "Hairspray" including the proper prison atmosphere, the dusty apartment of character Edna and the Baltimore back alleyways.
Tesha Buss keeps the company on their toes with her 1960s style dances. They are kept so active, in fact, that it is sometimes hard to tell when they aren’t dancing. Consequently the energy level on the stage is always riding high. Eric Svejcar’s musicians are a perfect match for the music and the cast.
It is Schele Williams who holds the magic wand over this confection of music, mayhem, magic (courtesy of a fine Wilbur in the hands of Tom Aulino) and motivations. She seems to have a knack for high-energy reenforcement. Whatever she’s on, we all need a dose of it in these dog days of summer and it’s almost obtainable from an orchestra seat for this show.
Hairspray is a large undertaking and, luckily, it will be around for a while. The folks up in Weston have put on a great show, one that is sure to please just about everyone, whether you remember the 60s with fondness or not, or even if you’ve only heard your parents talk about them.
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