“Hairspray” is an iconic musical that challenges many societal norms and covered hard-to-talk-about topics like racism, segregation and fat-phobia. The musical production was put on for Thursday, Nov. 9 through Sunday, Nov. 12. The overall story was portrayed so perfectly I could feel the emotion from my seat. The acting was very professional and you can tell all the actors and actresses really put their all into their roles and were very serious about the production.
Filling the large shoes of the main character, Tracy Turnblad, was the talented senior Jenna Holland.
“The roles I’ve played in the past have been influential but no character has made as much of an impact as Tracy,” Holland said. “She strives for equality for all and I think that she is a character that truly inspires people to fight for what they believe in.”
Holland’s performance in the production was outstanding, from the onstage chemistry between her character and Link Larkin, portrayed by sophomore Drew Chamberlain, the acting, and the vocals, Holland exceeded all expectations with her stage presence.
The musical number “Miss Baltimore” by Velma VonTussle, portrayed by senior Ginger Jones, was truly remarkable. Jones’ vocal range is mind-blowing. She portrayed the disgust of Velma towards Tracy’s character and her appearance outstandingly. She portrayed the protagonist to perfection. Velma’s daughter, Amber VonTussle, cast as junior Josey Willard, worked very well with Jones’ all throughout the performance.
One thing that stood out to me during the show was a few technical issues, which was completely understandable, sometimes tech doesn’t work. Even with shut-off microphones or microphones that cutoff halfway through a musical number, every cast member was able to make the crowd hear them. A notable mention goes out to senior Olin Spencer with his portrayal of Seaweed Stubbs. During the musical number, “Run and Tell That”, Olin’s mic ended up cutting out right near the end of the song, yet he still managed to belt out the ending note of the song perfectly.
Through the show, microphone issues did not cease. It didn’t matter if there were no working microphones, the cast managed to overshadow the fact and make you not even realize they were out. The cast made a great solution to the microphone issues by yelling their lines and singing as loudly as they could. The cast did a great job of handling any unscripted moments. For example, Tracy’s mother, Edna Turnblad being portrayed by senior Tristan Young, was talking to Tracy about her newfound fame after her first appearance on “The Corny Collins Show” and the iron slipped off the ironing board. The crowd laughed loudly as Young improvised the line, “Oh, well there goes my iron.”
On the subject of Young’s performance, Edna’s husband, Wilbur Turnblad, cast as senior Cruz Lewis, added a great comedic relief to such heavy topics in the production. He added an unexpected laugh to the stage that had the crowd clutching their stomachs with laughter in all of his scenes.
As well as Lewis, Chamberlain did a great job portraying Link, the playboy love interest, in what was his first lead role. During the scene near the end of the performance where Link breaks Tracy out of the jail cell, you can feel the emotion radiating off the stage. With his performance, you can’t even tell he was new to this. His musical numbers were astounding along with his acting and body language.
At the end, everyone gathered onstage and took their final bows with smiles on their faces and buzzing in excitement. I felt so warm and invited watching this musical and if you didn’t get a chance to see it, you missed the event of a lifetime.
Be sure to catch the next theater production, a one-act play the final week of November.
