There are few works of art that can address societal evils and still manage to be insanely fun. The wildly popular, Tony Award-winning Broadway musical ""Hairspray"" has perfected the formula. Based upon John Waters' 1988 film of the same name and on tour since its 2002 debut as a musical, ""Hairspray"" is a work of art that seamlessly lambastes society while plastering dopey smiles across audiences' faces. It's at the Overture this weekend only and shouldn't be missed.
""Hairspray"" is the story of Tracy Turnblad (Brooklyn Pulver), an overweight teenager living in 1962 Baltimore. One day she's a nobody dancing in her living room, the next day she's a regular on the ""Corny Collins Show,"" a TV dance craze show that anyone who's anyone watches after school. The most popular girl on the show—the uncoordinated, bitchy Amber Von Tussle (Pearl Thomas)—tries to make Tracy's life a living hell, but nothing can stop her enthusiasm and her lighting-fast feet. Overnight she becomes a local star, a beauty queen and has the show's main hunk, Link Larkin (Constantine Rousouli), asking her to go steady.
But before long trouble sets in. Teachers put her in detention for her gigantic hairdo and she starts feeling the heat for trying to integrate the ""Corny Collins Show,"" which only allows black people on once a month for its ""Negro dance day.""
Although ""Hairspray"" glosses over the unlikelihood of a fat girl winning the hearts of a city and a hunk, it handles the issue of segregation in a meaningful way. Though it rarely lets up on the laughs, the glitz or kitsch, it makes its point loud and clear: Segregation, be it based on race or appearance, is the work of petty, unhappy and small-minded people who just can't seem to get that life isn't about fitting in, its about shakin' what your mama gave you.
By easing up on speeches and rhetoric, ""Hairspray"" shows how much fun people can have when they throw barriers like race, class and appearance to the wind and let loose. In our contemporary society obsessed with images of unattainable beauty, it's a message that's still worth considering.
Pulver glows with positive energy as Tracy. Though she has stiff competition for attention from an extremely talented supporting cast—including Alyssa Malgeri as her ditzy best friend and the hilarious Jerry O'Boyle as her larger-than-life mother—Pulver keeps all eyes on her with a performance that is enthusiastic but never forced. She sums up the sexual energy, the big heart and the sky-is-the-limit mentality that was just beginning to blossom in the early '60s.
The path she takes is the path of many artists during the '60s: She learns her sweet moves from Seaweed—a crazy-talented, too-cool-for-school black dancer (Christian White)—she lets them take her to the top, and then tries to force mainstream society to acknowledge the vast debt it owes to black culture.
""Hairspray"" celebrates living, loving and dancing while showing us that evil things can change if people persevere in doing what's right. The price on this production might be a bit high, but the joy of seeing such an optimistic take on life is hard to shake.
