Now and then a touring show rolls through our town and doesn't just knock your socks off, it takes your socks off, unravels them into individual threads, and then re-weaves those threads into socks bursting with energy and warmth.
Such is the case with Hairspray, now visiting Playhouse Square for a very short run. This is an early stop on the 45-city tour for this non-equity production, but it glistens in almost every respect—from spot-on performances to dances that make you want to move. As the show says in its concluding, standing ovation number: "You Can't Stop the Beat."
Inspired by the 1998 eponymous flick, this musical adaptation (book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, music and arrangements by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman) opened on Broadway four years later and won the Tony for Best Musical.
It's set in 1962, back when there were just three channels on TV, towering hairdos for girls were groovy, and high school couples hid under the stadium bleachers to swap spit. We follow the challenges and triumphs of Tracy Turnblad (a superb Caroline Eiseman) who, when she's not mooning over school-stud Link (Skyler Shields), yearns to be a featured dancer on the Corny Collins Show—modeled after the Dick Clark Show—where teens dance to the current rock songs and crane their necks to get face time on the cameras.
Of course, back in the '60s there was as much prejudice afoot as there was rock music. Since Tracy is "big-boned" gal she thinks she doesn't stand a chance to make the show like slim blonde Amber (Caroline Portner) who is viciously promoted at every turn by her Cruella DeVil-ish mom Velma (a succulently nasty Sarah Hayes).
But when given detention as punishment for her large "hair don't" she meets some Black kids who have it much worse on the bigotry spectrum, relegated to one "Negro Day" a month on Corny's show. Tracy is immediately attracted to Black student Seaweed J. Stubbs (a riveting Josiah Rogers), who unpacks some slithery dance moves that she starts to mimic.
Soon, she's on the show with Corny (a smarmy Andrew Scoggin) and supported from the sidelines by her enormous mom Edna who is usually played by a man. In this case, Greg Kalafatas dons Edna's dresses along with a no-nonsense demeanor when it come to protecting Tracy. He steals every scene with the possible exception of the ones he isn't in—and except for the scenes when Seaweed's mom Motormouth Maybelle (Deidre Lang) cuts loose in the songs "Big, Blonde and Beautiful" and the showstopper "I Know Where I've Been."
Other standouts in the cast include Scarlett Jacques as Penny, Tracy's shy and lovably dorky pal who blossoms when she meets Tracy's detention friends, and Ralph Prentice Daniel as Edna's husband and Tracy's dad. His tender and funny duet with Edna, "(You're) Timeless to Me," serves as the second showstopper (there are actually a couple more numbers that qualify).
This is a production with so many strengths, it feels almost petty to point out that a couple performers overcook their scenes. One example is Emmanuelle Zeesman, who triples as Penny's mom Prudy, the Gym Teacher, and a prison Matron. With each character she tries just a bit too hard to be funny when a subtler version of her antics would be more amusing. Another is Micah Sauvageau as Harriman J. Spritzer, the owner of Ultra Clutch hairspray and Corny Collins' sponsor, who relies on too much spritz and not enough schtick.
Huge props go to director Matt Lenz and choreographer Robbie Roby for this smooth, stunningly delightful production.
Hairspray
Through December 10 at Playhouse Square, Connor Palace Theater, 1615 Euclid Ave., playhousesquare.org, 216-241-6000.
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