Good morning Glasgow! Are you a ‘Hairspray’ fanatic? Then get yourself to The King’s Theatre to see an all time fan favourite, running until the 1st of February 2025. Although the performance is lacking a bit of magic, it is still a great night out, filled with your favourite songs and evoking you to be part of the change. Join big hearted Tracy Turnblad and her new friends the spirited Seaweed and his sister Little Inez, heartthrob Link Larkin and the resolute Motormouth Maybelle as they strive to change the world. Hairspray has wowed audiences in The West End and on Broadway and still packs a punch with its message of tolerance and the fight against racial discrimination. This fun-filled show is bursting with show-stopping numbers and dizzying dance routines, come and join the beat because just to sit still would be a crime!
Neil Hurst as Edna Turnblad and Dermot Canavan as Wilbur Turnbland were absolute crowd favourites. The bond between them and their character relationships, invited the audience to be on their side from the offset. Paired with some excellent character work, comedic timing and beautiful harmonies, Hurst and Canavan could do no wrong.
Joanne Clifton as Velma Von Tussle displayed her powerhouse vocals, which wowed the audience throughout. In the stage show this character seems somewhat one dimensional, which can be difficult to work around with the lines, despite Cliftons effort to use intonation and her vocal range to display a more varied emotional journey, the writing unfortunately did not support this.
Michelle Ndegwa as Motormouth Maybelle gave an excellent portrayal of the character and made her somewhat her own. Throughout the big hits like Big, Blonde and Beautiful and I Know Where I’ve Been, Ndegwa performed in a way that was more true to her and better suited to her voice. Ndegwa provoked the audience, taking them on a journey and empowering them.
Katie Brace as Tracy Turnblad brought a comedic performance to the Glasgow stage, her comedic timing and physical comedy was a highlight of the production as well as her vocal ability. At times the use of her deeper, more exaggerated voice, became somewhat predictable. It would be nice to see her be more playful with how she could manipulate her voice to create comedic moments in the over exaggerated, excitable journey of teenage Tracy.
Solomon Davy as Link Larkin was excellent, this was a different version of Link Larkin than we have previously seen. Davy used great facial expressions to portray a version of Link which seemed more like a modern day influencer. Davy seemed to play into the thirst for stardom, though this did not take away from his more vulnerable realisations. At times the vocals were slightly off when harmonizing during ‘Without Love’, though other than this a great performance.
Declan Egan as Corny Collins was fantastic, it seemed as if Egan played into the power of Corny, which was an interesting take of the character, when taking on Velma and Amber Von Tussle, it seemed that Collins was always in control. I believe this was due to the masculinity that Egan brought to the character, although he kept some of Corny’s camp, old Hollywood traits, this brought a new light to the dynamic of the time. Katlo as Little Inez was phenomenal, giving a wow factor performance and allowing audiences to be fully on-side and giving them a euphoric feeling when Little Inez eventually gets her well deserved reward.
Freya McMahon as Penny Pingleton was a stand-out throughout this performance, her dedication to the demanding vocal manipulation and physical comedy that this character requires was outstanding. Her character journey felt well paced and thought through. McMahon had the audience in the palm of her hands giving a moreish performance. Reece Richards as Seaweed was fantastic, the character bond with Penny Pingleton was fantastic and I loved the reassurance they created from Seaweed to Penny in her heightened moments. Seaweed wowed audiences with fantastic vocals and killer moves, a delight to watch.
Allana Taylor as Amber Von Tussle gave an interesting performance, I loved the way that Amber seemed unmatched to her competition. Taylor had an excellent lower range and vocals that could melt butter. Her choice to intentionally hold back when dancing, created a depth to the privilege of the character which was great to see. We know this was an intentional choice as come the walk down she surprises us with tricks and kicks!
The ensemble consisted of Stuart Hickey, Kirsty Sparks, Ben Anderson, Nina Bell, Rebecca French, Grace Anyiam, Vanessa Dumatey, Marcellus Hill, Shemar Jarrett, Olly Manley, Jacob Smith, Jaiden Lodge, Issie Wilman and Shaniquah Notice-Morris. The ensemble is vital in creating strength in numbers and a vibrant energy to the performance. They did well to create stand out personalities and portrayed them throughout the performance with their excellent reactions.
Directors Paul Kerryson and Brenda Edwards, alongside choreographer Drew McOnie and musical supervisor Ben Atkinson did well to try and give a fresh face to this production. Although it was great to see another tour of such a well-loved production, it struggled visually to meet the modern age. The themes are unfortunately still extremely topical and relatable to the modern world we live in and as a musical it will always be ‘Timeless To Me’. This production needs to find the right balance of old and new, it needs more of a visionary direction. The choreography was extremely fun and was brought into today’s world with a mix of classic 60’s influence, however, it did feel during the first act like the spacing was off and the cast were somewhat cramped and cautious of each other’s positions.
The lighting design by Philip Gladwell started off with great excitement with rotators creating a multicolored blast through the audience, creating excitement, however, as time went on it seemed like the balance between the lighting and the projector screen was clashing. There was some lovely shadow work at the beginning of ‘Timeless To Me’ however, this would not be available for all the audience to witness due to the position of the set. Projection design by George Reeve was overall lackluster. The most powerful moments throughout the show had great images of real moments in history, however, the design throughout seemed slightly dull and did not impress in today’s climate. Set & costume design by Takis seemed to lack a budget to match the vision, the audience were impressed by the expanding set of the Turnbland & Pingleton residence, however, I wish we could see further into the livingroom and lives of these families. At times the position of the joke shop didn’t make sense in comparison to the ‘living room’ where the initial action takes place in the home. The costumes were overall beautiful, however, some of the ensemble pieces felt like an afterthought.
Overall, the performance had a great impact and was a fun filled evening. The set left more to be desired, with the projector screens blowing in the wind and some lackluster images replacing the set (with the exception of the powerful real life images of infamous protests and rallies). The performance from some of the cast was outstanding and it feels like the overall creative vision and/or budget for this production has let them down. With that being said, the audience loved it, they were up dancing on their feet, giving a thunderous applause. The production must be commended for the atmosphere it creates and the impact it can have on theatre goers who love this classic musical.
Get your tickets for ‘Hairspray’ here – https://www.hairsprayuktour.com/tour-dates/
Photography – Pamela Raith & Ellie Kurttz
Theatre Scotland 
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