Mon 8th July - 7:30 Performance
Theatre Royal Nottingham - £21.50 Ticket, £2.50 Programme
I wasn't going to see this show, however my girlfriend and some of her friends were seeing it for her birthday and I decided to hang around for an extra day to see it and I am very glad that I did! I had only seen the movie for the first time less than a month before seeing this show. I am glad that I had seen the movie as it meant I knew the music and was able to dance and sing-along a bit, although this is not essential for your enjoyment.
Hairspray is a very fun and energetic musical set in the 1960's with suitably 60's music. Written in 2002, Hairspray takes a look back at the 1960's issue of racial segregation. Through the life of Tracy Turnblat and her pursuit of a role on the 'Corny Colins' show and then its transition to an integrated show. Thankfully society has moved on at least a little bit since the 60's and the ridiculousness that was racial segregation, however I think we can learn a lesson from how ridiculous we find it now and think about some of the issues we face in modern society and how ridiculous they are. Anyway enough political stuff on with the fun bit.
The music and dancing in this show is quite stereotypical 60's and I absolutely love it! The show involved a massive 60 wigs to provide the cast with suitably ridiculously giant, hairspray ridden 60's hairstyles. The set and costumes are all brightly coloured and flashy as we expect from the 60's and had some really cool features strewn throughout. One of the features (Sorry if this is poorly explained) was a store front, which in the opening song Good Morning Baltimore was just a flat part of the set featuring an image of three women in red glittery dress, later in the show during (Hey Mama) Welcome to the 60s the image is now three women in red glittery dresses who step out of the 'store front' and dance. This cool transition of image to reality was fantastic and it was these sorts of cool things which made this show.
The drag role of Tracy's Mum, Edna (John Travolta in the Movie), was played by Mark Benton (Hustle). Mark did a superb job of balancing the reality of being a man and playing a woman, he used this as a superb tool for comedy. There was a hilarious and heart-warming moment during (You're) Timeless To Me where Edna and her Husband (Paul Rider) are dancing together where Mark and Paul corpsed (broke character and laughed). This was greatly enjoyed by the audience who joined in with a well time wolf whistle setting them off again. The band did extremely well (as did Mark and Paul) to pull it together and continue the song without any issues (like the singing and music getting out of sync). As an audience member I love it when I can tell just how much fun the actors are having and this always makes me wish I was back up on stage again (There was a moment when I saw singing in the rain where one of the dancers made eye contact with us, saw how much we were loving getting spashed, he grinned at us and proceeded to send an extra large splash our way).
Overall it was an extremely enjoyable production and if the touring show (or any production really) happens to be within relatively easy reach I recommend seeing it! Tour dates below.
Tour Dates:
Nottingham - Theatre Royal Closed
Dublin - Bord Gais Energy Theatre 6 Aug - 17 Aug
Leeds - Grand Theatre 20 Aug - 31 Aug
Edinburgh - Playhouse 3 Sep - 14 Sep
Aberdeen - His Majesty's Theatre 16 Sep - 21 Sep
Norwich - Royal Theatre 24 Sep - 29 Sep
Theatre Royal Nottingham - £21.50 Ticket, £2.50 Programme
I wasn't going to see this show, however my girlfriend and some of her friends were seeing it for her birthday and I decided to hang around for an extra day to see it and I am very glad that I did! I had only seen the movie for the first time less than a month before seeing this show. I am glad that I had seen the movie as it meant I knew the music and was able to dance and sing-along a bit, although this is not essential for your enjoyment.
Hairspray is a very fun and energetic musical set in the 1960's with suitably 60's music. Written in 2002, Hairspray takes a look back at the 1960's issue of racial segregation. Through the life of Tracy Turnblat and her pursuit of a role on the 'Corny Colins' show and then its transition to an integrated show. Thankfully society has moved on at least a little bit since the 60's and the ridiculousness that was racial segregation, however I think we can learn a lesson from how ridiculous we find it now and think about some of the issues we face in modern society and how ridiculous they are. Anyway enough political stuff on with the fun bit.
The music and dancing in this show is quite stereotypical 60's and I absolutely love it! The show involved a massive 60 wigs to provide the cast with suitably ridiculously giant, hairspray ridden 60's hairstyles. The set and costumes are all brightly coloured and flashy as we expect from the 60's and had some really cool features strewn throughout. One of the features (Sorry if this is poorly explained) was a store front, which in the opening song Good Morning Baltimore was just a flat part of the set featuring an image of three women in red glittery dress, later in the show during (Hey Mama) Welcome to the 60s the image is now three women in red glittery dresses who step out of the 'store front' and dance. This cool transition of image to reality was fantastic and it was these sorts of cool things which made this show.
The drag role of Tracy's Mum, Edna (John Travolta in the Movie), was played by Mark Benton (Hustle). Mark did a superb job of balancing the reality of being a man and playing a woman, he used this as a superb tool for comedy. There was a hilarious and heart-warming moment during (You're) Timeless To Me where Edna and her Husband (Paul Rider) are dancing together where Mark and Paul corpsed (broke character and laughed). This was greatly enjoyed by the audience who joined in with a well time wolf whistle setting them off again. The band did extremely well (as did Mark and Paul) to pull it together and continue the song without any issues (like the singing and music getting out of sync). As an audience member I love it when I can tell just how much fun the actors are having and this always makes me wish I was back up on stage again (There was a moment when I saw singing in the rain where one of the dancers made eye contact with us, saw how much we were loving getting spashed, he grinned at us and proceeded to send an extra large splash our way).
Overall it was an extremely enjoyable production and if the touring show (or any production really) happens to be within relatively easy reach I recommend seeing it! Tour dates below.
Tour Dates:
Nottingham - Theatre Royal Closed
Dublin - Bord Gais Energy Theatre 6 Aug - 17 Aug
Leeds - Grand Theatre 20 Aug - 31 Aug
Edinburgh - Playhouse 3 Sep - 14 Sep
Aberdeen - His Majesty's Theatre 16 Sep - 21 Sep
Norwich - Royal Theatre 24 Sep - 29 Sep
It must be official, I'm in your blog now, haha.
ReplyDeleteIT WAS SO GOOD =D =D =D still singing the songs even now!