Hairspray: Tina White

A bit of Broadway New York hit the stage in Broadway Palmerston North last night with the Abbey Musical Theatre production of Hairspray.

This bold, brassy, sassy and mile-a-minute show is set in 1962 Baltimore right at the start of the American civil rights movement.  The story, with its serious inner theme wrapped in a slight, peppy package, is told through the eyes of heroine Tracy Turnblad, an overweight and underappreciated teenage girl.  How Tracy (a vivacious Danica Manson), her larger-than-life Mamma (Andrew Hodgson) and their pals integrate the all-white Corny Collins TV teen dance show learn to love themselves and achieve their dreams is the theme of the musical.

Director Ian Harman's pulsating, loose-limbed choreography, with its joyful attention to every detail, is the centrepiece of Hairspray and it's a delight to watch.

The ensemble give it all they've got; the corny jokes and references are fun (though possibly unrecognisable to younger audience members); in the finale, there's the oddest use of a hairspray container ever seen; and the singers are in top form.

Only one thing got in the way – the shrillness of some of the sound, and the sung words that often got lost in translation.

But that apart, what memorable moments:  Danica Manson and David Mock (hero Link Larkin’s) prison love duet; Val Andrew's Cruella-like villainy as Velma von Tussle; Amy Hunt's stunning performance as Motormouth Maybelle and Andrew Hodgson and Ben Jones (Wilbur’s) delicious buck-'n'wing duo Timeless to Me.

Nevertheless, I have to say, this is a show in which every last member of the cast is a star