Hairspray the Musical

This was definitely one of the best musical productions to hit our local shores in a long, long time. I will be honest and say that the 2007 movie was my first introduction to this musical, so the image of John Travolta in drag is still very memorable, as was Queen Latifah. In this british production, the vocals were outstanding throughout except for Link's portrayer. Strong, powerful voices with great scatting, energetic dancing, high octane performances and hilarious line-readings. Edna Turnbull is again the most popular draw with the crowd, and she is really the emotional core of the show, despite Tracy being the main lead. The standout songs were the same as the movie, but one thing which the movie had the upper hand over was the larger sets and larger background cast, giving the big dance scenes even more energy and vibrancy. Other than the technical snafu in the beginning where the house lights did not dim, the other setbacks were the rather poor lighting, simplistic sets and really bad wigs. But these were minor complications in an otherwise outstanding, fun, feel-good night out!