King’s Theatre, Glasgow
Four stars
Size matters in this big-time stage version of John Waters’ 1988 film that marked the one time prince of sleaze’s crossover from cult status to commercial acceptance. It’s not just the larger than life physical presence of would-be teen queen Tracy Turnblad, whose desire to appear on Corny Collins’ TV dance show, become Miss Teen Hairspray 1962 and get a grip of pretty boy rocker Link Larkin opens her up to a whole new world beyond her Baltimore front door.
It is the way writers Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan and composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman load up Waters’ original construction with a perfectly judged confection of homage and pastiche whilst retaining Waters’ taboo busting subversive heart writ large. Soul too is in the mix of this irresistibly effervescent production, that sets out its store at a time when the only time black and white mixed was on a monochrome TV screen, but which here makes for one of the most colourful shows around.
As Tracy, her mother Edna and her geeky pal Penny are cast aside by the blonde ambition of Allana Taylor’s mean girl Amber and her high flying mother Velma, played by Joanne Clifton, our heroines’ take a walk on the wild side. This leads them to Motormouth Maybelle’s record store, where liberation begins on a civil rights march, a spell behind bars and ultimately on the dance floor. This is the stuff pop and political awakenings are made of, with first-generation teen flicks, women’s prison melodrama and radical chic all referenced here in a deceptively goodtime series of quick fire song and dance routines.
Co- directors Paul Kerryson and Brenda Edwards – a former Motormouth Maybelle - bring all this to life on Takis’ cartoon style set, with the vivid pastel coloured costumes illuminated by the wash of Philip Gladwell’s pink hued lighting. An irrepressible Katie Brace takes the lead through all this, making her professional acting debut as Tracy. Neil Hurst as Edna and Dermot Canavan as Edna’s hubby Wilbur make a divine (if not Divine) comedy double act, with Reece Richards as Penny’s romantic interest Seaweed and Katlo as show stealing dance star Little Inez pointing the way forward in a plus size powerhouse of a show.
The Herald, January 29th 2025
Ends
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