Review: HAIRSPRAY at Scherr Forum Theatre

5-Star Theatricals' production of Hairspray, which opened October 10 at the Scherr Forum Theatre in Thousand Oaks, is the bubbly, effervescent morality tale about civil rights in Baltimore in the early ’60s that won Tony awards for best musical, book, and score. The 2002 musical was based on John Waters’ 1988 cult film, and actually improves on it, with a knockout score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman that does a better job at summoning up the musical styles of its day than any other “retro” musical to date, including Grease and Bye, Bye Birdie.

The production utilizes a large cast to fill the Scherr's compact stage, with a hyperkinetic cast directed by Marissa Jaret Winokur, who won a Tony playing zaftig teenager and social activist Tracy Turnblad during the show's initial run on Broadway. Winokur, who is as bubbly and optimistic as the character she portrayed, was fortunate to have found Lexie Martin to play Tracy in this production. The petite Martin is wonderful as Tracy, costumed with a bouffed-up wig that is almost as tall as she is. She sings beautifully and matches up well with the other cast members in the various dance-intensive production numbers.

The story takes place in Baltimore in 1962, a city that was in turmoil during the fight to end segregation during that turbulent decade. That year saw an inflammatory confrontation when, on Labor Day, a mob of 1,000 white people threw stones and bottles at 35 African-American youths at a public swimming pool in Baltimore's Riverside neighborhood.

Tracy and her gal pal Penny Pingleton are huge fans of “The Corny Collins Show,” a fictitious local television dance program á la American Bandstand, with Garrett Clayton playing the show's Dick Clark-like host. Tracy's dream is to join the show's dance team, billed as "the nicest kids in town," who introduce themselves at the beginning of each program Mickey Mouse Club-style, an all-white troupe of well-scrubbed teens. One day a month is "Negro Day" on the show, as the cast is replaced by African American dancers, but Tracy thinks that everyone should dance together ("Integration is the new frontier!" she chirps, invoking JFK's 1960 political slogan), much to the dismay of the show's Cruella de Vil-like producer, the venomous Velma Von Tussle (Becky Lythgoe, snarling like a malevolent Joan Rivers). 

Hairspray is highlighted by a superbly crafted score that evokes the sound and musical styles of the pre-Beatles 1960s, performed by a 15-piece orchestra led by Anthony Lucca. Choreographer Clarice ORdaz keeps its cast busy with a conveyor belt of infectious dance numbers, each invoking a different musical style. The Phil Spector girl group sound is represented by Tracy's confident “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now,” while "Run and Tell That," sung by sinewy Seawood J. Tubbs (the excellent Alexander J. Brown), evokes the pre-funk R&B groove of James Brown. The infectious "Welcome to the '60s" is a virtual steal of Motown's Martha and the Vandellas' 1963 hit, "Heat Wave."  In between, Shaiman and Wittman cleverly incorporate other iconic sound bytes from the '50s and '60s, including the "na, na-na-na na" vocal riff from Wilson Pickett's "Land of 1000 Dances" and hunky Link Larkin's doo-wop ballad "It Takes Two." The splashy finale, "You Can't Stop the Beat" (which goes on longer than it should), was inspired by the Spector-produced "River Deep - Mountain High" by Ike and Tina Turner. 

The plum role in every production of Hairspray is Tracy’s mother, Edna, which is traditionally played by a large-framed male wearing a frowzy, plus-sized house dress. The original Edna in the 1988 film was played by Harris Milstead, a drag queen/actor and member of John Waters' regular acting troupe who performed under the stage name "Divine." The secret in playing Edna, however, is to play her as a straight female and not as a male actor in drag (although one can see Edna as a breakthrough role for transgender actors). 

O'Connor's abilities are matched by Travis Joe Dixon as Edna's husband Wilbur, proprietor of the Hardy Har Hut, a joke shop near the Turnblad home that sells whoopee cushions, hand buzzers, and other tools of the low humor trade. Dixon plays Wilbur like Jim Carrey and there is no end to his comic creativity, which includes streaking across the stage in roller skates during his day-to-day tasks in his shop. Dixon and O'Connor are both prone to ad-libbing, especially in the Cole Porter-clever duet "You're Timeless to Me," which is as funny as it is charming. (On opening night, O'Connor responded hilariously, in character, to an exuberant child in the audience.)

Logan Eliza is properly self-absorbed as Velma's entitled daughter Amber, while Hannah Selacek is perfect as the socially gawky Penny. Jennifer Leigh Warren steals the show as the Etta James-inspired Motormouth Maybelle, who speaks in rhyme, while Malia Johnson, a prolific and talented young actress (5-Star, High Street Arts Center) does a fine job as the precocious Little Inez. Garrett Clayton enlarges upon his two-dimensional character as Corny Collins demonstrates sympathy for Tracy's cause by standing up to the oppressive and racist Velma. Bobby Hogan's Link Larkin is more Bobby Rydell than Elvis and he does a good job as Tracy's starstruck love interest.

The mid-century modern set design comes courtesy the San Pedro Playhouse in San Antonio, Texas while the colorful costumes were provided by The Theatre Company in Upland. More ambitious productions have included working replicas of vintage TV cameras and even vintage newsreels from 1960s-era civil rights confrontations, but 5-Star's production sticks with a bare bones sets without era-evoking frills. A minor set decoration note: there were no push-button wall phones in 1962. All phones were still rotary dial. 

5-Star's Hairspray is loads of fun and will keep audiences of all ages bouncing in their seats and humming the tunes on their way out of the theater, where the fight for equality still rages in the world of Trump.

Hairspray plays through October 26 at the Scherr Forum Theatre at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center in Thousand Oaks. For tickets, visit 5startheatricals.com. 

Photos by Veronica Slavin, courtesy David Elzer, Demand PR