Ever since this whole world began— the theatre found out if they shook it they could wake up the land and so they’re gonna shake and shimmy it the best that they can today— and all week long— as Baltimore’s very own Hairspray finally touches down here at Charm City’s Hippodrome Theatre. The long-awaited return of the National Tour has is finally shaking and shimmying its way into town— and you can’t stop this beat! Directed by Matt Lenz (based on original direction by Jack O’Brien) with Musical Coordination by John Mezzio and Musical Conductor Patrick Hoagland, and Choreography by Jerry Mitchell (recreated by Michele Lynch) this iconic musical that means the world to Baltimore City is bringing all the love and the joy at this much-needed point in time.
Landing at the Hippodrome during the peak of Pride month, Hairspray is bringing all the joyous rainbow celebrations (that are a part of the tour, presumably all-year round, but feel extra fabulous being seen so vibrantly during Pride!) Scenic Designer David Rockwell has got striking scenic pieces, much of which drop in from the fly tower, to create iconic locations like Motormouth Maybelle’s record shop and Mr. Pinky’s Hefty Hideaway. You get rainbow colors galore inside the record shop and featured in most of the jazzed-up lighting work (Tour Lighting Designer Paul Miller based on the Broadway design by Kenneth Posner.) Miller’s approach to Posner’s work really gives some of those high-octane dance numbers the real vivacious party feel with blinking color lights, twirling gobos, and a whole bunch of crazy background video work (Video Design Patrick W. Lord) which does incredible things like create dancing silhouettes and an astonishing big-finale dance out for the curtain call.
William Ivey Long’s costumes are on point for the 60’s. Not only do all of the ‘Nicest Kids in Town’ (from the Corny Collins Show and Patterson Park High) have all the fashions of the time, but they look simply stunning when they get turned-out in their ‘dancing formal’ best. Long’s real masterpieces are featured on the Edna Turnblad character, who gets some glamourous and glorious apparel in wildly saturated colors streaked with shimmer and glitz, giving her character the uplifting confidence boost needed to achieve that stellar transformation. Long works in tandem with Wig and Hair Designers Paul Huntley and Richard Mawbey to fully curate that dazzling 60’s ‘Hairspray’ look not only for the Tracy Turnblad character but for those epic Ultra-Clutch wig-styles featured during “It’s Hairspray.”
When you’re big near-finale number of the show is entitled “You Can’t Stop The Beat” one expects an intense amount of high-energy choreography. Michele Lynch (recreating Jerry Mitchell’s original choreography for the tour) and the company of Hairspray deliver 100% in this arena, bringing astronomically high levels of energy to the pumped-up routines seen during numbers like “Run And Tell That”, “Nicest Kids In Town” and of course the aforementioned “You Can’t Stop The Beat.” There is so much motion and bodily vibration, you can’t help but clap and stomp along in the audience, wiggling and dancing in your seat as each number is delivered. The company dances with a great deal of polished perfection as well, crisply executing these dance moves in a way that delivers the verve of a real good time while still looking stellar and professional.
There’s a laugh-a-minute to be had from the female-character-role-track (covering Prudy Pingleton, the gym teacher, the jailhouse matron) actor Emmanuelle Zeesman. One of the most underrated roles in the show, this tri-performance gold mine is delivered with exceptional comic timing by Zeesman. As the dour and prudish Mrs. Pingleton, Zeesman is quite the obstreperous individual, though flawlessly delivered with her zesty comic delivery. As the Matron and Gym Teacher, there’s no telling what’s going to come out of Zeesman’s mouth and this only adds to the hilarity of the two unique physical portrayals she gives in these roles.
Sparkling, charming, and just a gleaming picture-perfect idol of what a wholesome, quaint television host should be, Corny Collins (Billy Dawson) is the only thing better than Hairspray, just like the song says. Dawson toes the line between shaking things up and keeping things on the level and he has the perfect, seasoned ‘adult’ voice (since he’s the host of an afterschool teenage TV program in 1962) singing voice, heard pristinely during both “Nicest Kids In Town” and “It’s Hairspray.” Dawson is just fun to watch, particularly when he’s trying to hold back Tracy during the Link Larkin breakout number, “It Takes Two.”
Vile, villainous, and very good at being bad, those Von Tussles— Amber (Kaelee Albritton) and Velma (Addison Garner)— are the epitome of comic villainy when it comes to antagonizing Tracy and really everyone and everything in the show. Both Garner and Albritton are vocally gifted, as evidenced by their solo features— “Cooties”[Albritton’s number as Amber] and “(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs” [Garner as Velma]— and their dynamic voices can also be heard carrying lyrically along during “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now.” Albritton, as the obnoxiously entitled Amber, has that nasally whine and shriek of a spoiled brat refined down to a meticulous science, while Garner has mastered the art of the maniacal villainous cackle, heard with roaring vivacity at the end of “Velma’s Revenge.” The pair are both primed to play these villainesses and ultimately find that even they cannot stop the beat when it comes to progress.
Full of panache and a powerhouse voice, which is experienced in a slow reprise shared with Tracy and later during a big solo verse of “Run and Tell That”, Little Inez (at this performance Kaléa Leverette) is pulling out all the stops both vocally and with her fantastic dancing capabilities. Leverette portrays the youthfully exuberant character— little sister of Seaweed and daughter of Motormouth Maybelle— with a great deal of pluck but also astonishingly moving compassion. During “I Know Where I’ve Been”, a Motormouth Maybelle solo in the second act, there is a silent moment where Leverette approaches the Link Larkin character and takes his hands, bringing him into her world, to feel and see her struggles; it’s breathtaking and brings a tear to the eye.
Speaking of— loaded with sass, class, and a whole lot of personality and vocal capability— Miss Motormouth Maybelle (at this performance Gabriyel Thomas) is whole-heartedly bringing the love with a voice sent from above! Thomas slides into the role as if it were made for her; easy confidence, a bright and glowing personality, and of course a bold voice that really carries her big number in Act I— “Big, Blonde, and Beautiful.” While the character is full of little rhyming jokes, there are kernels of deep and beautiful, albeit at times tragic, truth in those words of wisdom. When Thomas sings “I Know Where I’ve Been” during the second act, it is a spine-chilling moment that moves the soul; her resounding vocals carry the emotional gravity of that number unquestionably.
Wearing the proverbial joker’s cap in this production (which is ironic considering no silly-hats are ever really seen on the character) Wilbur Turnblad (Christopher Swan) finds his place in the show as good comic relief and ultra-support for both Tracy and Edna. There’s something comfortingly earnest about the way Swan portrays the character, just chuckling with Tracy and cheering up Edna; the risk with such a side-piece-style character is to turn it into an over-the-top caricature of a ‘funny-man’ or ‘character-man’ and Swan shies away from that approach, delivering a more earnest, and honestly, more enjoyable version of Wilbur. His duet— “Timeless To Me” is just a barrel of honest-to-God, feel-good funny laughs and it keeps you grinning from ear to ear the whole number through, especially when he starts dancing with Edna.
The larger-than-life Edna Turnblad (at this performance Greg Kalafatas) is a hilariously unstoppable force who comes into her own straight away. Kalafatas, while not having an overtly obvious Baltimore-Hon accent, gives us all the realness we need from Edna, particularly in the Motormouth Maybelle record-shop scene that precedes “Big, Blonde, and Beautiful.” Really strutting the character’s stuff once Edna is outfitted by the charming Mr. Pinky (at this performance Kaleb Jenkins), Kalafatas owns each one of those glamours, dazzling outfits and really finds the inner-sparkle that Edna had inside all along. Lending robust vocals to “Mama, I’m A Big Girl Now” (a two-part series of trios featuring Tracy, Penny, Amber, and Edna, Prudy, and Velma) as well “Timeless To Me”, the duet shared with Wilbur, Kalafatas has everyone falling in love with this big, blonde-ish, beautiful character from the very first moment she steps out in her house robe and slippers.
Truly a triple threat with indefatigable feet and legs, Jamonté D. Bruten is electrifying as Seaweed J. Stubbs. With legs that defy description when dancing— in the absolutely jaw-dropping-est way possible— Bruten slays in the role, really giving his heart and soul to the number, “Run And Tell That”, which is simultaneously where we get to see some of his finest, high-octane dance moves. (That and the scene in detention where the character first meets Tracy.) Bruten has soaring vocal command of that number as well as his half of the Seaweed-Penny duet in “Without Love.” Charming, sleek, and so much fun to watch, the energy bouncing out of Bruten’s performance is simply smashing. Playing the adorably introverted and quietly reserved Penny Pingleton, Emery Henderson comes into her own as a loud and proud, self-proclaimed ‘checkerboard chick’ by the show’s conclusion (with the most fabulous aubergine-shaded flapper shimmy dress with silver-tassels that shake of their own accord in one perfect swoop when she shifts just slightly left and right!) Henderson is quirky but down let the meager character fool you— when she belts her face off in her half of “Without Love” you can hear her blue-eyed soul penetrating that number hardcore.
Blessed with a true crooner’s voice, Will Savarese embodies teenage heartthrob Link Larkin like a second skin. While not quite the burgeoning blossoming Elvis he gets labeled as— and honestly it’s only because his voice is a natural tenor and there’s way less pelvic-thrusting going on in this wholesome family show— Savarese is a delight to listen to and to watch. He grows with the character, really showcasing how Link comes to the correct conclusions after making some mistakes along the way. When he croons “It Takes Two”, it’s hard for the audience not to swoon and the chemistry he develops right from the ‘meet-cute’ with Tracy is stunning and feels authentic.
Living her best life as Tracy Turnblad, Niki Metcalf is a bouncing ball of energy that just gets the avalanche of joy and excitement racing down the hill. From the very moment she pops her eyes open in the memorably iconic bedroom for the start of “Good Morning, Baltimore!” to the way she marches into the finale in that shimmer-square fuchsia party dress, Metcalf’s Tracy is truly unstoppable. With dancing feet that never quit, an honesty about her at all times, even when the character is experiences the highlights of televised fame, and some potently powerful vocals, you get it all with Metcalf’s Tracy. When she’s pulling Edna all through “Welcome To The 60’s” (a song that also features the stellar Dynamites: Nichelle Lewis, Jazz Madison, Parris Mone’t Lewis, with some astonishing vocal riffs and options) Metcalf never loses her high-levels of excitement, enthusiasm, and overall energy. There are even moments of deep contemplative emotional gravity for the Tracy character, like the “Good Morning, Baltimore (Reprise)” which Metcalf delivers with such strong grounding in the heavier emotions of the show that they really hit home for the audience. Ultimately amazing, Metcalf is everything you could hope for from a Tracy Turnblad!
So what are you waiting for, Baltimore? You can’t stop the hands of time— and at the end of this week Hairspray will be rolling on out to their next city so get your tickets because you can’t stop this beat!
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes with one intermission
Hairspray plays June 14th 2022 through June 19th 2022 at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre in the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center— 12 N. Eutaw Street in the Bromo Seltzer Arts District of Baltimore, MD. For tickets call the box office at (410) 752-7444 or purchase them purchase them online.
To read the ‘Run & Tell That!’ interview with Hairspray’s Jamonté D. Bruten, click here.
