I saw Hairspray last night. I won tickets at the Broadway Cares Flea Market. They were very good seats, Row P in the orchestra on the aisle. I saw the original cast but Anthony has never seen the show. He enjoyed it a lot but I was disappointed. I still think it's a good show but it's been running for 5 years and it's showing age. First of all, the show is
TOO LOUD
At times it's painful and jarring. Just because it's so loud though, that doesn't mean I could understand the actors as they sang. Many, many lyrics were lost in the jumble of begin over-miced and bad diction and sloppy performances.
When the show is paced well it doesn't seem too long but Act 1 is almost 90 minutes and last night there were times I was looking at my watch. The pacing seems off and the jokes aren't landing very well, especially the jokes between Edna and Wilbur. The most disappointing thing about the show right now is the lack of chemistry between Paul Vogt (Edna) and Jim J. Bullock (Wilbur). I have the original cast to remember (with great fondness) and anyone would be hard pressed to live up to that but these two just don't have a spark. When Harvey was on stage I never thought fora moment that he was anyone but Edna. It was great. I saw Paul Vogt and saw a man playing a woman in a fat suit. Yes, he can sing better than Harvey but something is missing. I was especially disturbed at the "break-up" in You're Timeless to Me, the great soft shoe duet in the second act. It's a funny number but it's also supposed to be sweet and charming and loving. You see how much Wilbur really, truly loves Edna. Well, not last night. Bullock spent half the number breaking up and laughing and I'm not sure what happened to cause it, unless, as Anthony surmised, that it's a "staged" break up. It might have happened once and they decided to keep it. The audience eats it up and gives a huge hand at the end but it left a bad taste in my mouth. That's not what the number is about. It takes me out of the show and takes away any good feeling I have for the characters. It just makes me realize how lucky I was to see the original cast.
Lance Bass is in the show. He plays Corny Collins. I'm sure he's a very nice person and I bet he loves his mother very much. Sorry, I'm not usually so snarky but I couldn't help it.
Michelle Pawk was very good as Velma and Sharon Foster did a nice job playing all the Jackie Hoffman roles.
The show, IMHO, is a shadow of its former self. It seems to be doing very well, probably helped along by the movie but I don't know if I would recommend it anymore.
That being said, before I saw the show I sent a review off to Beverley at the BBC (it hasn't played yet) because Hairspray has begun performances in the West End with Michael Ball as Edna and based on my original recollections I recommended the show saying I hope it plays as well as it did when I saw it in 2002. So, my legion of fans, if that segment is ever played (I have no control over when Dear Beverley plays my segments) keep in mind that I hadn't seen the show since my original viewing 5 years ago. I didn't know I would be seeing the show again before I sent off the segment recommending it.
It is now 8:07am and the database is still wonky.