Hairspray Show and Album Review

Hairspray ****

MARC SHAIMAN AND SCOTT WITTMAN

Sony Classical ASK87708

17 tracks - 58:15

There will be a permanent hole in the ozone layer above the Neil Simon Theater in New York City when the current show finally ends its run (which will not be in the near future). Hairspray, the musical, is joyous fun; a smattering of naughty humor and enough energy to light up Times Square all on its own. And of course, those environmentally unfriendly aerosol sprays are there to hold it all together.

With the dwindling number of true Broadway songwriters (its two kings, Steven Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber, are diverting their attentions to revivals and producing, respectively), Broadway musicals recently took a wrong turn in farming the pop world for composers. This has lead to disappointing shows by Paul Simon (The Capeman) and Harry Connick, Jr. (Thou Shalt Not), with Elton John (Aida) being the only one left standing. Now, producers are looking at the film composing scene. In the past, film composers haven't necessarily been great musical writers (Elmer Bernstein's How Now, Dow Jones, or John Williams' Thomas and the King), although musical composers seem to fare just fine in the film scoring arena (David Shire, Marvin Hamlisch and Sondheim). But, this season, at least two film composers will brave the great white way, with Marc Shaiman first up to bat. And this one's a home run.

Although some his best scores are for dramas (The American President, A Few Good Men), Shaiman is mostly known for his comedy scores like The Addams Family and Sister Act. What probably caught the attention of Broadway producers were his Broadway-styled songs for South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. With the Oscar nominated song "Blame Canada" being the most tame, Shaiman and the South Park team had their animated characters sing about the foulest and crudest things imaginable, but set to attractive music that could have come straight out of The Sound of Music or Les Miserables.

None of the songs in Hairspray come close to the sardonic nastiness of South Park, appropriate since the 1988 movie on which it's based was probably the tamest movie its director, John Waters, ever made. Affectionately based on his experiences growing up in Baltimore in the early '60s, the film eschews Waters' usual images of people eating feces and throwing their mothers against Christmas trees for the relatively tame world of a teen music show called "The Corny Collins Show" and the teenagers who aspired to be in it. The film starred Ricki Lake in a career-making role as Tracy Turnblatt; the drag performer, Divine, in one of his last performances before his death, as her mother, Edna; along with a host of campy supporting parts played by Debbie Harry, Jerry Stiller and Sonny Bono. The film was the biggest moneymaker in Waters' career.

This is probably one of the reasons the producers were attracted to it as a musical project. Another current trend for Broadway musicals is take established musical entities, throw them on stage, and hope the audience doesn't realize how devoid of inspiration they are. Spectacles like Saturday Night Fever, Footloose and Mamma Mia may have made money, but they left serious musical theater fans shaking their heads in disappointment, plugging their ears from the pumped up volume (as if making it louder will make it better.) Unlike these predecessors, the Hairspray adaptation has inspiration to spare.

From the opening moment, which is performed as if looking down on Tracy in bed from her ceiling, you know you're in the safe hands of music theater experts. The song, "Welcome to Baltimore," similar to South Park's opening number "Mountain Town," talks about the joys of living in 1962, in a city where you have to walk over rats in the streets -- and a city which is not integrated. It's no wonder that the hefty-sized Tracy (played with great spirit by Melissa Janet Winokur) and her friends are so hooked on the local American Bandstand-like TV dance show. Hoping to audition and win a place on the show's roster of All-American teen-age hoofer, she is faced with many obstacles, but by chance makes it on the show, where she must face down not only the prejudices against over-sized people, but against black people as well, since they are only allowed to dance once a month on the show. With gravelly voiced Harvey Fierstein as her mother (who seems to be inhaling whatever is the opposite of helium) by her side, Tracy begins her crusade against the status quo and starts breaking down social boundaries.

As directed by Jack O'Brien with a constantly changing and inventive set by architect David Rockwell, the show rockets through the plot, with the audience bouncing and snapping their fingers all the way. The cast is so energetic that they threaten to become the thinnest cast on Broadway, thus making moot at least half of the plot. Although written to be essentially cartoon caricatures of characters by book writers Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, the cast doesn't really stop to take a breath until an hour into the show, when Tracy is literally bonked on the head by a ball and blacks out.

The songs are, in a word, glorious. With his writing partner, Scott Wittman, Shaiman has captured the spirit of 1962 without being condescending. The songs have a Little Shop of Horrors wink to the '60s camp, but always stay within the style. From "I Can Hear the Bells," a Ronettes inspired song, to the R&B "Run and Tell That" and the Elvis flavored "It Takes Two," Shaiman creates a Bye, Bye Birdie for the 21st Century. He also masters the Broadway style songs of the era, with a lovely duet for Tracy's parents and a slightly manic comic song, "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs," which works better on the CD because there's too much going on on stage to concentrate on all the verbal jokes. The standout song is the Kander and Ebb styled "The Big Dollhouse," which could have come straight out of Chicago -- Fierstein literally brings the house down.

No, the show is not perfect. Some jokes fall flat and certain characters are too broad (Linda Hart as Velma, the producer, is the most egregious case). And with so many great songs in the first part of the show, it's a little disappointing that the Act One finale is such a dud, both as written and staged. The song, "Big Blonde and Beautiful," is Motormouth Mabel's big number, and it doesn't really come to the final flourish that would get her the applause she deserves. As the song continues through the final scene, it peters out instead of putting a big exclamation point on a show filled with so many smaller ones. Even the big finale of the show suffers from this, but to a lesser degree. These are still small flaws in an otherwise enjoyable musical.

The Sony Classical CD captures the show's lively spirit in its excellent cast recording. It'll be hard not to get caught up in the go-for-broke performances, as well as the wide range of musical styles Shaiman includes. It'll also give you chance to actually hear some the clever lyrics that were lost in the theater (because you were laughing at the previous lyric). And be sure not to miss the bonus track...

Hairspray is just the start of the film business' invasion of Broadway. With film composer Michel Legrand's new musical Amour, and Moulin Rouge's Baz Luhrmann's opera/theater piece La Boheme arriving later in the season, film and film score fans should keep an eye on Broadway for some of their film favorites' latest works.

Hairspray is currently playing at the Neil Simon Theater (250 West 52nd Street) in New York City. Tickets: $65 - $100. Ticketmaster: (800) 755-4000 or www.ticketmaster.com.
 
 

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