Hairspray

A relatively new show clearly has appeal to societies such as KAOS who are always keen to add to their repertoire. With its many featured roles and ensembles, it appeals to youthful audiences and its box office rating is high. Rachel Howat took the role of the pleasantly plump but zestful Tracy Turnblad with Adam Smith (in Drag) as her pushy mother  Edna. Laura Bohan played the brash and scheming Velma von Tussle, producer of the teenage Corny Collins Show and mother of the somewhat untalented Amber von Tussle while Colin McDonald took the spirited part of the show’s host Corny Collins. Link Larkin is the teenagers’ heartthrob and Connor Kilpatrick filled the part ideally. Jennifer Bonar took the part of Motormouth Maybel, owner of a downtown record shop with Colin Fyfe assuming the role of her dancer son Seaweed J. Stubbs. The part of Little Inez (Seaweed’s younger sister) was double cast and as I attended on the Saturday evening, the part was taken by Erin Rutherford. Mark McLaughlin gave an amusing interpretation as Wilbur Turnblad, Tracy’s somewhat potty father and Leom Gray played Harriman J Spritzer, the justly nervous sponsor of the Corny Collins Show.
The plot is brashly American and shifts swiftly from scene to scene, interest being sustained by the plotting and counter-plotting of the groups rivaling one another for places on the Council and as entrants to the Miss Teenage Hairspray Competition. Interest and tension is therefore maintained throughout. The cast also included the other principals with a chorus made up of Council members and others, capped by the Dynamites being a troupe of six special dancers. This show has an excellent orchestration and MD Tom Daniels coaxed the best from it with his fine musicians.

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