Hairspray at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre leaves a lasting hold on audiences

Jeremy Daniel

Way back in 1988, director John Waters shocked the world more than he ever had before when Hairspray was released. Not for any of the film’s content, but because it was rated … PG. Waters’ film had never been family friendly to that point but Hairspray broke the mold and brought Waters and his ‘leading lady’ Divine into the mainstream spotlight after more than a decade of making low-budget, underground and independent films. Sadly, Divine (Harris Glen Milstead) passed away just weeks after the film’s premiere in Baltimore with the best reviews of his career. Hairspray went on to become a hit with audiences and critics, and gained even more popularity in the home video market, but no one could have predicted that the movie would eventually become the basis for a big budget, Broadway musical but it did almost 15 years after the film’s release. The show eventually earned thirteen Tony Award nominations and won eight including Best Musical. The show ran on Broadway for seven years with 2,642 performances under its belt. A successful production was mounted in London’s West End as well as various international productions and tours (and, of course there was the movie adaptation and the live TV broadcast). It’s been a while since North America has seen a tour of Hairspray, and now after a pandemic-induced delay (the show was supposed to launch its tour in Baltimore in 2020, I believe) the show is finally on the road … and home where it belongs (for a week, anyway).

If you’re still unfamiliar with the story of Hairspray, it follows teenager Tracy Turnblad in 1960s Baltimore, a fan of the daily dance program ‘The Corny Collins Show’ (these shows were found in local markets across the country at the time, this one based on Baltimore’s ‘Buddy Deane Show’). But the overweight Tracy finds resistance to her quest to become a dancer on the show from her mother Edna — who worries that she’ll just be ridiculed — and the show’s producer Velma Von Tussle … who ridicules her. But Tracy persists with the help of fellow detention student Seaweed J. Stubbs, her best friend Penny Pingleton, and the show’s heartthrob Link Larkin, much to the dismay of his girlfriend Amber Von Tussle. Tracy’s time on the show also brings to light the segregation of the era when only white kids could dance on TV with other white kids (ironically to ‘Black music’), while one day a month was the designated ‘Negro Day’. Tracy makes it her mission to bring desegregation to ‘The Corny Collins Show’ and the rest of the country, and gets a little boost from Seaweed’s mother Motormouth Maybelle (and along the way she and Link fall in love, as do Penny and Seaweed). But they still have to thwart the Von Tussles who are not quite ready admit the times are a-changin’.

The stage version of Hairspray follows Waters’ film pretty closely but adds (and subtracts) a few things — like Tracy’s incarceration in solitary confinement for spearheading a protest at the TV station — and really focuses on the racial disparity angle to give the story more depth. Using Waters’ screenplay as a guidebook, writers Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan were able to produce, in my opinion, one of, if not the most successful film-to-stage adaptations ever. It’s hard to perfectly transfer a movie to the stage for various and obvious reasons but O’Donnell and Meehan did a wonderful job of keeping almost the entire film intact (the amusement park scene is gone but not missed) and expanding it in a logical way. If I have one complaint, it’s the removal of the Mink Stole character from the film (just because I like Mink Stole), combining her with the Velma Von Tussle character to make Velma more of the show’s villain. But it works. What also works are the marvelous songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. There isn’t a dud in the bunch, and just about all of them are extremely hummable. You might be having a hard time deciding which song to hum as you leave the theatre, from the opening ‘Good Morning Baltimore’ to the closing ‘You Can’t Stop the Beat’ and many in-between including ‘I Can Hear the Bells’ and ‘Without Love’. They are all crowd-pleasers but there is one showstopper that hits you in all the feels — and I admit I sobbed quietly during the emotional ‘I Know Where I’ve Been’, which highlights the struggles of the Black community and the battles yet to come. It is a powerful moment for the show which has been full of laughs to that point. And it’s not jarring to have this very serious moment because this is what the story has been leading up to. Again, I can’t think of a more perfectly structured story that maybe even improved on the original. That’s a feat in and of itself.

Jeremy Daniel

The heart of the show is Tracy, played by Niki Metcalf who gives a wonderful performance that combines Ricki Lake from the movie and Marissa Jaret Winokur from the Broadway show and makes it her own. Metcalf gives Tracy a bubbly personality even in the face of adversity and bullying, and she’s sincere when she needs to be. Her Tracy is someone you’d want to be friends with. And her voice is stunning, carrying each song powerfully and perfectly. And the audience was eating her up. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her on opening night, singing ‘Good Morning Baltimore’ (the very first number) in Baltimore to a crowd that cheered every time she sang those three words. It was amazing to just be a part of that, to feel that energy that we were giving to her and I’m sure she was feeling it as well.

Of the main characters and regular cast, Billy Dawson is fun as Corny Collins, giving off that cliché TV host vibe while the TV cameras are on, but not afraid to throw his weight around while his producer Velma is fighting to keep the show segregated. For a professional theatre debut, Will Savarese is a terrific Link Larkin, tall and handsome, not hard to see why all of the girls, including Tracy, fall at his feet as if he’s the next Elvis. He has great chemistry with Metcalf as well, making their budding relationship all the more believable. He also has a fine singing voice, but there were some volume level issues that sometimes left him barely audible so I hope they fix that for the rest of the run (audio is always an issue on opening night, it seems). Emery Henderson is a hoot as Penny Pingleton, Tracy’s awkward best friend who blooms into a changed woman — much to her mother Prudy’s chagrin — when she meets and falls for Seaweed. Jamonté D. Bruten is outstanding as Seaweed, bringing a lot of swagger to the boy while belting out ‘Run and Tell That’ in the first act. Kaelee Albritton is the perfectly spoiled Amber, and Addison Garner is her perfectly overbearing — and a little racist — mother Velma, delighting the audience with her solo number ‘Miss Baltimore Crab’ (and one has to wonder how these Baltimore references play in other towns). Emmanuelle Zeesman took on three roles: the gym teacher was just way too over-the-top for my liking, the prison matron was a little more toned down (if the gym teacher was at 11, the matron was at a 9), but her Prudy Pingleton was perfection, wildly neurotic and a bit too over-protective (CPS might need to get involved after her punishment of Penny), accurately giving us the same type of characterization of Prudy from the movie. Christopher Swan is also a delight as Tracy’s dad Wilbur, seeming to be a bit of a buffoon, a bit of a dreamer, but during Wilbur’s duet with Edna, ‘(You’re) Timeless To Me’, you fall in love with this couple because you can feel that they truly adore each other. And for this performance, Swan proved that he’s an actor who can go with the flow and still make that moment honest because his regular co-star was not able to perform on opening night.

In fact, I can’t remember an opening where three of the main cast members were out … but these are the times we live in (I don’t know if their absences were COVID-related, but that is what one must assume these days). Normally the part of Edna Turnblad — in the tradition of Divine — is played by Andrew Levitt, aka Nina West from RuPaul’s Drag Race, while Motormouth Maybelle is played by Sandie Lee and Little Inez is played by Brianna Kaleen. For our performance, Edna was understudied by Greg Kalafatas who did a wonderful job, never missing a beat, fitting in perfectly and, again, making that number with Swan feel as if the two had shared the stage for years. My only quibble — and I’m sure this is a directorial choice for the character — is that this Edna always seems angry in the first part of the show instead of the weary Edna of the movie. Other than that, his performance was wonderful and he has the best singing voice of any Edna I’ve ever heard before. Kaléa Leverette stepped in as Little Inez and she also held her own, again making the relationship with brother Seaweed and mother Maybelle feel genuine. Doubly hard because Motormouth Maybelle was also a replacement, Gabriyel Thomas, who stole every moment she was on stage, and who brought down the house (and brought me to tears) with her ‘Eleven O’Clock Number’ (the showstopping song that comes late in Act 2 of a show). She, and the rest of the cast in that scene, deserved that thunderous and extended ovation. The rest of the cast — those playing the numerous ‘Corny Collins Show’ counsel members — were also on their game even as several of them were also out or filling in roles different from their usual ones. This is a perfect example of why understudies and swings are so important to keep these shows running, especially while COVID is still a big issue. Without them, three major roles would have been vacant and the show would not have gone on, so I offer them all a hearty congratulations for a job well done, and a sincere thank you for making the changes in the program absolutely seamless.

Jeremy Daniel

In addition to the actors, the story, the songs, the direction and choreography, Hairspray is a bright, Technicolor marvel, from William Ivey Long’s stunning costumes to David Rockwell’s scenic design, perfectly capturing the Formstone facades of the Baltimore city houses to the delight of the audience, and creating spaces from the TV studio to the Turnblad home to Motormouth Maybelle’s record store. The use of a large video wall at the back of the stage also added to the spectacle. Everything from start to finish made Hairspray a true delight, a show that just makes you happy and joyful as you leave the theatre. I don’t think you can ask for anything more than that.

Hairspray runs about 2 hours and 30 minutes with one 15 minute intermission. Recommended for ages 8 and up.

Hairspray runs through June 19 at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre. Other cities on the schedule include Charleston, West Virginia; Portland, Maine; New Haven, Connecticut; Cincinnati, Ohio; Spokane, Washington; Reno, Nevada; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Boston, Massachusetts; Columbus, Ohio; Durham, North Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Indianapolis, Indiana; Sacramento, California; Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington, Los Angeles, California; Atlanta, Georgia and more. Visit the official website for more information.