Oh, oh, oh, 
woke up today, 
feeling the way I always do

But that was before I went to the Hippodrome in Birmingham to see the touring production of Hairspray. I have always been a fan, right from when I saw the original John Waters movie starring Rikki Lake and the late Divine.

It’s 1962 and Tracy Turnblad auditions to be a dancer on the Corny Collins Music Show and after initially being rejected due to body image, she makes the cut and instigates a revolution for racial integration. It seems abhorrent now, the views of that time, but that’s how life was, in fact, even worse than what is portrayed in this show.

Hairspray is a musical which launches at full throttle with the excellent Good Morning Baltimore, Nicest Kids in Town, Mama I’m a Big Girl Now and I Can Hear the Bells. And there is always the fun Welcome to the 60’s. But that does not mean to say everything is 10 out of 10. When you’ve seen it before, You’re Timeless to Me seems overly long and begins to grate, and the supposed ad-libs do appear scripted. Likewise, the two Motormouth numbers, although well performed, are boring and forgettable. Pity. This included the end of Act One tune in Big, Blonde and Beautiful which had me checking the time while I tried desperately not to nod off.

However, after what seemed a sad lull either side of the interval, things picked up again and Without Love certainly makes the grade. The title track, however, is a bit of a damp squib and Cooties must rank as one of the worst tracks in Musical Theatre. But then you get the awesome You Can’t Stop the Beat, or as I have heard it described, You Can’t Stop to Breathe. And I can concur with that, having performed the song in panto, and this offering was as energetic as anything I have seen recently. I felt exhausted just watching.

In the lead role as Tracy, Alexandra Emmerson-Kirby was outstanding in all areas. Great voice, stage presence and impressive dance. Of course, the top professional dancer on show was Joanne Clifton in a role (as Velma Von Tussle) which usually does not have many opportunities to utilise dance as much as others, but Drew McOnie’s choreography rectified that, as well as being top drawer throughout.

Playing Edna Turnblad was Neil Hurst who gave the part everything you would expect and more. Move over John Travolta, this was the real deal as Edna. I know the character is drag and meant tongue in cheek, but I have always found the best attempts at cross-gender are the ones where you just accept the switch because it seems so natural, and you don’t even give it thought that a man is portraying a woman.

Other cast members included Michelle Ndegwa as Motormouth, Dermot Canavan (Wilbur), Solomon Davy (Link Larkin), Katlo (Little Inez), Declan Egan (Corny Collins), Freya McMahon (Penny), Shemar Jarrett (Seaweed) and Allana Taylor (Amber).

Musical direction for Hairspray was from Richard Atkinson while the show was directed by Paul Kerryson and Brenda Edwards. This production is touring well into Spring of 2025 and despite a few niggles from me, is still worth the time.

Cheers.

Antony N Britt

*Photos taken from social media and may not be representative of the performance reviewed.