I’ve got tickets to see “Hairspray” on Broadway this Thursday night.
Go me.
Has anybody else seen it? What can we expect?
I saw it during its preview in Seattle, before it went to Broadway.
Expect a very, very fun show. Caveat: The plot gets all loosey-goosey in the last fifteen minutes, and loses its drive. Also, the show is just a tad bit smug about its “advanced” social and racial politics, but that’s forgivable, seeing as its audience is probably also a bit smug about their own progressiveness and doesn’t mind being preached to.
But the music is great. You’re going to want to buy the soundtrack.
Me! I saw it in April! I loved it! We somehow managed to score fifth row seats, how that happened I will never know but I like to think it was Divine intervention. Where are your seats?
I think there have been some cast changes since I saw it. There’s a new Tracy I know, but Harvey Fierstein as Edna is still there and he is fantastic! At the performance I saw I had understudies for Velma, Amber, Seaweed and for act 2 Wilbur but everyone did a great job and had I not known they were understudies I’d never have known. I liked the show better than the movie. The show jettisoned a number of the subplots and the structure was overall tighter than the movie. The show does IMHO go a bit off the rails in the finale but I was more than happy to forgive. I am addicted to the OCR and have it in my car, on my computer and in my iPod and listen to it incessantly.
There is no soundtrack. It’s a stage show, not a movie. Stage shows have original cast recordings.
I love the web site for the show incidentally. That’s totally how to do one!
Several critics complained about the “I Know Where I’ve Been” number, saying it was too somber for such a light show. (One compared it to singing Kaddish for the Holocaust dead in The Producers, which I thought was a ridiculously overstated comparison.) OTOH, if they hadn’t included it the same critics would probably have bashed it for making light of the Civil Rights era when so many people were beaten and lost their lives. Go figyah.
I was delighted to learn that the creators are now doing a show based on its full brother, Cry Baby.
I was less delighted to learn that Bruce Vilanch is going to star in the touring production. Who the hell wants to see that? I can understand why Harvey was chosen for B’way (an homage to Divine), but I think it’s time to let a woman play the role. (A shame that Tyne Daly is on a hit show as she’d be perfect.)
I haven’t seen the show yet. But I will. Oh yes, I most certainly will…Cry Baby