HAIRSPRAY at Theatre By The Sea Open Now Through August

The 2011 musical Hairspray, based on the 1988 film, tells the story of teen Tracy Turnblad, whose sole goal in life is to become a dancer on Baltimore’s Corny Collins Show.  Tracy achieves her goal, but in so doing, discovers that the show isn’t as fun and progressive as she previously thought.  What happens next is a truly joyful blend of fantastically catchy songs and outstanding performances across the board. Hairspray won the Tony awards for Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score among others, so its reputation is well-established.  Theatre by the Sea’s phenomenal cast, crew and orchestra take this fantastic story and turn it into a night of theatre like no other.

In 1962 Baltimore, there was no cooler show than The Corny Collins Show, which features regular teens as dancers–including the hunky Link Larkin. When Tracy and her bestie Penny hear that there’s an open call for a new dancer, they know Tracy is the perfect girl for the part.  Despite her atypical-for-tv appearance, Tracy is cast, primarily because she is white and the other finalists were Black. Tracy finds herself surprised and then increasingly upset when she learns that the people running the show won’t allow Black dancers on screen more than once a month.  Eventually, Tracy and her new friends hatch a plan to force the show to integrate, despite the risk involved.

The heart of the show is Tracy Turnblad who needs to be charismatic, loveable, determined and naive in a way that isn’t annoying–all while singing and dancing expertly.  It’s a tall order, but thankfully for us, Theatre by the Sea has cast the exceptional Niki Metcalf.  Metcalf is so sincere and earnest you can’t help but root for her, and it’s incredibly apparent how she manages to charm everyone she encounters. Metcalf’s singing voice is wonderful to listen to, and she commands the stage seemingly effortlessly.  

Despite the high energy of this show, the entire cast never slowed down.  Tracy’s Best Friend Penny, played by Madeline Glave has exceptional comic timing.  Seaweed J. Stubbs played by Sam Yousuf glides across the stage.  Alana Cauthen as Motormouth Maybelle brings a lovely sense of pathos and level-headedness to offset the immature exuberance shown by some of the younger characters.  Cauthen also has an incredibly powerful singing voice that rivals Aretha Franklin.  It is truly astonishing, and thankfully this show gives her character ample opportunity to shine. The choreography (Christopher Campbell), costumes, and of course the wigs (Liz Printz) all coalesce to create a magical night of theatre.

Everything about this production clicked together perfectly.  The story is so hopeful, without being saccharine, and manages to avoid a white savior narrative that would have undermined the important message of the story.  Integrating a teen dance show may seem less important in the grand scheme of things, but every step in the right direction is a worthwhile endeavor.  This show reminds us of all that while also being incredibly joyful.