Stepping out of the newly-renovated Twelfth Night Theatre last night, my cheeks were aching – I’d smiled my way through almost the entire show.
Two and a half hours of high-spirited humour and 60s sock hop choreo, set with a glitzy helping of hairspray – all in the triumphant fight for civil rights – will do that to you.
Queensland Musical Theatre’s (QMT) production of Hairspray, set in Baltimore in the midst of the civil rights movement, is an exuberant celebration of the progress we have made as Tracey Turnblad, with her bouffant and bold attitude, seeks a brave new world.
Hairspray nods at successive activist movements – Tracey’s mother mentions her grandmother was a suffragette – which in turn reminds this reviewer that 60 years later, the fight is not over when it comes to equality, and there will be many generations of activists to come. But this show reminds us why we fight.
Eloise Newman is dazzling as Tracey, nailing her numbers – easily convincing us why the kind-hearted pretty boy Link Larkin (Nicholas Joy) would fall for Tracey’s ebullient zest for life.
Wednesday Reign is outstanding as Tracey’s repressed best friend Penny, who finds her “blue-eyed soul” when she meets African American Seaweed (Joshua Davis), who has the moves and the charisma which inspires the others to open their hearts.
Reign plays the endearingly awkward schoolgirl with comedic flair, and her rich vocals sell the audience on Penny’s transformation into a liberated young woman ready to defy her austere mother.
Motormouth Maybelle (Rudo Banya), the Dynamites and the record shop kids – not to mention little Inez (AvaLyn Doherty) – are Brisbane’s answer to the call of soul and Motown.
Corny Collins’ (Lachlan Gleadhill) and The Corny Kids’ scenes are a visual feast – full of colour, sparkle and delightful dance moves, thanks to Julianne Burke’s choreography and Director Deian Ping’s costuming, and no doubt the hard-working sewers behind the scenes.
Jade Plaistow and Liana Hanson, as the racist, spotlight-hogging von Tussles you love to hate, were resplendently diabolical in their pale pink dresses and inhabited their characters down to the smallest detail of how they walked and talked.
Meanwhile, Edna Turnblad (Jason Kiger) and Wilbur Turnblad (Steve Beck) delivered the comedic highlights of the show with great chemistry and showed why they were real pros.
Perhaps Kiger’s bio in the show program puts it best: “After a steady run of distinguished bald gentlemen, he decided it was time for a dramatic change of pace. Enter Edna Turnblad: a role with hair, heels, and a bosom capable of knocking out a chorus line if she spins too quickly.”
The showstopping-ly joyful ‘You Can’t Stop the Beat’ in the finale saw the whole cast, and many of the audience members, up on their feet to the irrepressible sound of the orchestra, in the capable hands of Musical Director Nicky Griffith, playing that iconic riff complete with euphoric key change.
For cheerful, fun, glitzy entertainment with a beautiful message – see QMT’s Hairspray.
Tickets are available for tonight and tomorrow’s matinee at premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=HAIRSPRA25.
