Hairspray

Synopsis

Hairspray tells the story of geeky teen Tracy Turnblad - a big girl with a big heart, big dreams, a big stage mother and even bigger hair - who finds celebrity on TV dance programme. Can Tracy get the guy and still have time to change the world?

Our Review:

Scott Purvis - 9 May 2013

Hairspray is probably the closest that Broadway has ever come to producing a pantomime. Like Beauty and the Beast, it teaches us that we should look for the beauty in a person’s heart, not in their appearance, it features a comic villain that makes Cruella De Ville look like a spokesperson for the Dogs’ Trust and gives beloved British actors the chance to slip into a bra that could double up as a four-man tent.

Set against the growth of the Civil Rights movement, this witty and bitingly satirical show that asks its audience not to judge anyone by their looks but by the content of their character, paralleling the minor comedy of overweight schoolgirl Tracy Turnblad with the great social evil of institutional racism.

Teasing its audience as freely as Tracy teases her ratted hairdo, [Mark O’Donnell] and Thomas Meehan’s Tony Award-winning script plays with the modern notion of political correctness, contrasting 1960s prejudices wi...

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