[NEohioPAL] Review of "Hairspray" at the Fine Arts Association

[Bob Abelman]

Lightweight 'Hairspray' holds up just fine at Fine Arts

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,

The Morning Journal, Geauga Times Courier

Member, American Theatre Critics Association 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 6/8/12

 

 

In the wide spectrum of storytelling that is musical theater, "Hairspray's" tale about a heavyset girl with big dreams leans toward the lightweight.  

 

The theatrical equivalent of a spritz of aerosol in the wind, this airy and energetic musical comedy, currently playing at the Fine Arts Association in Willoughby, boasts of numerous Tony and Drama Desk Awards.  Those awards, including Best Musical of 2003, paid tribute to the show's simple and fast moving book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, upbeat and accessible pop rock music by Marc Shaiman, and playful lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman.  They also acknowledged a very talented ensemble of players, which happens to be the strong suit in the FAA production.

 

Based on a low-budget nonmusical film by king-of-camp John Waters, "Hairspray" places teenager Tracy Turnblad against a backdrop of the civil rights movement in 1960s Baltimore.   Tracy lives to dance and, despite her unfashionable girth and unpopular liberal views, lands a spot on a local TV teen dance program.  She takes a stand and helps integrate the show with the aid of her high school detention buddies and her best friend, Penny Pingleton. 

 

Diedre Davis is wonderful as Tracy.  She is the kind of natural performer that you can't take your eyes off of during her featured songs-which are plentiful in a play that offers at least one musical number per scene.  Davis could steal the show if not for the equally gifted players that surround her.  

 

As Penny, Alexandra Wells is a delight.  An amalgamation of gangly and flailing limbs, Wells' Penny is the perfect counterpart to Davis' Tracy.  Only after falling in love with Seaweed Stubbs from the other side of the tracks-played by an equally delightful though less expressive Jerry Shepherd-does Wells' character transform and her skills as a singer and dancer are showcased. 

 

Erika Acquaviva and Emmy Stowell are the Von Tussels, the snobbish TV producer mother and the self-absorbed featured dancer daughter, respectively, on the "Corny Collins Show" who serve as the counterpoint to all the rollicking good times in this musical.  They, too, are wonderful, particularly when their characters relish in their efforts to cut Tracy down to size.  Acquaviva flat-out nails her character-defining "Miss Baltimore Crabs" number, and Stowell is stellar in everything she does.

 

So, too, is J.J. Luster as Tracy's love-interest.  Luster plays heartthrob Link Larkin with a delicious wink and nod, and sets the bar for dance performance.  He gives life to Pierre-Jacques Brault's high-energy but low degree of difficulty choreography, as do most members of the TV show's teen council, most of the corps of detention denizens, Dominic Fedele as Corny Collins, and Sierra Johnson as Little Inez.     

 

One of the inexplicably campy conventions that made its way from celluloid to stage is casting Tracy's Mom, Edna, as a man in drag.  The role is traditionally played to the hilt by actors who shop at the Big and Tall Men store, which accentuates the situational absurdity of a Kennedy-era guy in a dress and serves as a never-ending source of physical humor and sexual innuendo.  Director James Mango, whose production is filled with great choices and creative staging, drops the ball by casting the short Tom Hill to fill Edna's large shoes.  

 

Though game and really quite adorable in a frock, Hill's small stature does not generate the presence the role requires and he seems hesitant to own the stage when the moment calls for it, which it does in the musical numbers "Welcome to the 60's," "Big, Blonde & Beautiful," and "You're Timeless to Me."  Partnered with an understated and seemingly uncomfortable Paul Sloop as Edna's husband Wilbur in an atrocious bald-wig, the two merely shimmer when given ample opportunities to shine.

 

Shining is not a problem for Lynette Turner, who grabs her moments by the throat as Motormouth Maybelle, Seaweed's Mom and host of the TV show's "Negro Day."  Her Act 2 anthem "I Know Where I've Been" is a show-stopper.

 

All this activity takes place amidst Drew Lupson's attractive albeit bare boned scenic design, in D. Justin Bilewicz III colorful costuming, and is supported by a superb on-stage orchestra under John Krol's direction.  

 

Microphone problems plagued the opening weekend performances, but the sheer exuberance of the cast, the effervescence of the featured players, and the jet stream of aerosol entertainment embedded in "Hairspray" persevere.   This is a fun-filled community production of a big,frothy musical comedy. 

      

"Hairspray" runs through June 17 at the Fine Arts Association's Corning Auditorium in Willoughby.  For information or tickets, which are $23 to $25, call 440-951-7500 or visit  www.fineartsassociation.org.
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