Ogden Musical Theatre’s ‘Hairspray’: A Review

REVIEW | THEATER

Directed by Daysha; Music director: Katherine Underwood; Choreography: Mike Hernandez
Book: Thomas Meehan and Mark O’Donnell
Music: Marc Shaiman, Lyrics Mark Shaiman and Scott Whittman
Ogden Musical Theatre, Peery’s Egyptian Theater
2415 Washington Blvd., Ogden
801-689-8700 | ogdenpet.com 
July 25-Aug.15

Performance photos of “Hairspray,” now playing at Peery’s Egyptian Theater. Courtesy of Ogden Musical Theatre

I have to admit I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I remember the original movie (1980s). When that movie came out, I was one of the larger than life people talked about in the story. It broke my heart rather than made me laugh. I got it. It was satire but it really stung. So. I’m coming to this play with that load of resentment and couldn’t have been more surprised to find a completely different story AND the largest, woke-est community of artists I have ever seen in my life.

The brilliance of the director, Daysha, is to take a teen love story and blow it up into a renewed civil rights movement right here in Ogden City. Teens are running around dancing while Motormouth Maybelle (Laura Robbins) is living the consequences every day of her life and still she persists. She shared her story with the kids. When she belts out “Big, Blonde, and Beautiful” to end the first act, you know you’ve met one of the most beautiful people you’ve ever seen. Oh, the kids are all right, too.

And, as far as a love story goes, the teen romance goes without saying. The real romance between Mother Edna/Austin Payne and Father Wilbur Turnblad/Lance Smith is the sweetest and most endearing couple in the whole show. They have been partners for at least long enough to have a teenager but Wilbur adores Edna like it’s the first time he sees her and falls in love. Their song about “Timeless” speaks everything about true love/lust/loyalty and the couple do the song every justice.

With Maybelle Motormouth’s second act anthem, “I Know Where I’ve Been,” she distills her past and future and continuing hope into a marching song for freedom for everyone. She leads us all in the finale, “Can’t Stop the Beat.” It was everything I could do to not stand up and dance in the audience. The power coming from that stage was enormous, right down to the very last dancer. 

The singers and dancers work seamlessly through choral direction by Kathrine Underwood and choreography by Michael Hernandez*. The dance numbers were showstoppers every time. This is relatively new music (2007 film) brought right up to date with the dancers from the juvenile delinquents and perfectly adapting to the white kids at bandstand. (I know. I was 14 dancing in junior high school just like some of those bandstanders.)

Of course, Tracy/Aspen Michelle Cambrie was brilliant. She never missed a note. Her side-kick Penny/Lily Allen had perfect timing. Amber/Bee Higgins was acidly evil and her mother - oh! her mother! Her mother deserves a paragraph of her own. So many actors will go unmentioned here but there was no weak link. Every actor/singer/dancer gave their all at the matinee I saw and then they all had to it again for the evening performance. Artists AND athletes, every one.

Here’s the paragraph for the mom. The evil racist program director, Velma Von Tussle (Mickey Larson), is a late-40s, no longer slim but still very curvy woman stuffed into a pink bodycon suit seen to be believed Her claim to fame was being “Miss Baltimore Crab” in the distant past. Her level of cruelty makes Cruella seem like a saint. If her venomous look doesn’t strike you dumb, her voice from no place on earth will stop you in your tracks. The level of vitriolic hatred coming from this woman toward ANYTHING she doesn’t deem worthy is Trumpian. I have never enjoyed a villain so much in my life. 

I knew Hernandez when he brought his talent to Weber State as a student and continued to share regional high school choreography and teaching as well as work with professional companies.

I especially remember Larson flying through the air when she was a mere wisp of a young woman at WSU, honing her already considerable skills. Peter Pan to Velma Von Tussle is such a leap it adds to my astonishment to what she continues to accomplish. She is a delight and a valued treasure on our local stages.

Kudos to Ogden Musical Theatre for producing such a community gift. This is a truly amazing accomplishment!