By Sandi Masori in Carlsbad, California
If you’re looking for a toe-tapping feel-good show, check out Hairspray now playing at New Village Arts theater. You may already be familiar with the 1988 John Waters cult classic movie starting Jerry Stiller, Deborah Harry, Rikki Lake and a bunch of other stars. The musical, which premiered in 2002 keeps the tone and message of the movie but adds in a whole new soundtrack and energy.
Set in Baltimore in 1962, the basic plot is that plus-sized high-school student Tracy Turnblad (Linsey Schreck) yearns to be a dancer on The Corny Collins Show, a teen dance show that sets the trends. Undeterred by her mother’s (Luxe the Drag Queen) admonitions that girls like her don’t get put on television, she and her best friend Penny (Irelynn Terranami) devise a plan to cut school and audition for the show.
There’s something else going on too, segregation is alive and well and living in Baltimore. After meeting some of the “colored kids” in special ed, Tracy and Penny join new friend Seaweed (Alexander J. Brown) and his friends at his mother Motormouth Mabel’s (Eboni Muse) record store to learn some new dances.
Tracy vows to get the Corny Collins Show to integrate, and she and Motormouth Mabel, devise a plan to force integration.
The set designed by Jesus Hurtado primarily looks like the show studio and relies heavily on projections to great effect. It’s colorful, fun, and campy as it should be. Small vignettes are rolled on and off the stage to represent Tracy’s home, Penny’s home and other locations.
As most of the action takes place “in the studio.” director Kali Boston uses the audience as the studio audience, enabling the actors to break the fourth wall and interact with the audience directly. Link (Max Leadley), Tracy’s love interest, comes out into the audience to serenade us, and the entire company comes out for a clap-along for the final joyous number.
There were a few minor issues I would be remiss not to mention. The stage seemed a little dark at times and needed a bit more lighting. And at one point in the show, after a big number, there was a lot of noise coming from backstage by actors who may not have realized how loud they were being. It distracted from the scene on the stage and left the audience wondering what they were supposed to pay attention to.
There are some incredible actors in the show. Shoutouts go to Muse, who seems to pop up in more and more of the local shows, to the benefit of the audience. That girl can sing! And after seeing her in several very different roles over the years, I’m really appreciating her breadth. Another stand out is Luxe the Drag Queen, as Tracy’s mom. This role has always gone to men, first by Devine in the movie, and by John Travolta in the 2007 film adaption of the Broadway musical version. It was very clear that this was not Luxe’s first rodeo, she was incredible. Schreck was well cast as Tracy.
Terranami did Penny proud in her role and Jonni Garro looked like she was having fun in her multiple roles including that of Penny’s mom.
Another actor who does well with multiple roles is Max Cadillac who plays Tracy’s dad among other parts. The role of Tracy’s dad was originated by Jerry Stiller, and is very Jew-coded (which means it feels like an archetypical Jewish character). At first, I was thinking he was playing it that way because of Stiller, but in one of the songs there’s a random “Shabbat Shalom” as a rhyme to “home.” The only other Jewish reference is when racist producer Velma VonTussel (Alyssa Anne Schechter) makes a disparaging comment about “Blacks and Jews”.
The show will leave you smiling and maybe even singing and dancing just a little. It’s a worthy investment of 2.5 hours.
Hairspray plays at New Village Arts through July 19.
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Associate Editor Sandi Masori is a theater and food reviewer for San Diego Jewish World.