It also helps that the product on the stage has been so good. The Fourth of July show with Hall and Oates was terrible as the 80s rock duo now emits about as much energy as a canasta tournament at the Sunshine Rest Home. But, lilting nights with Dolly Parton and Michael Feinstein have given us reason to cheer.
And, last Saturday night, the best was yet to be seen. It's the Hollywood Bowl's annual---and traditionally most ambitious---task. Time to devote an entire weekend to staging an honest-to-God Broadway musical. The Bowl attempts this year and I have marveled how professional these productions wind up being, given that there is probably no more than ten days of rehearsal time. Well, they even outdid themselves this time around.
"Hairspray" was glorious. And perfectly timed. Let's see, we had weeks of Washington D.C. bullshit about a debt ceiling. Oh, yeah, everybody's 401K tanked on Thursday. And, there's breaking news as a bunch of Navy SEALS are killed to avenge the murder of Osama bin Laden.
Yeah, we need to go back to the 60s and lickity split.
I've seen "Hairspray" previously when a national touring company landed at the Pantages Theater a few years back. I remember that I enjoyed the show but couldn't recall a single moment of it the next day. So much for all the Tonys and ballyhoo. What's the fuss about?
Well, the Hollywood Bowl gave us a rendition of "Hairspray" that was unforgettable. Bringing back the original cast who won Tony Awards for their roles had a lot to do with it. Suddenly, you have a musical that seemed as fresh and original as it did on its Broadway opening night a decade or so earlier.
For those who don't know and/or don't care, "Hairspray" is based on the John Waters movie of years ago and is all about young and chunky Tracy Turnblad's life in Baltimore and her quest to dance on the Corny Collins TV show, which is, wink wink, nothing but a bargain basement version of "American Bandstand." The plot in itself is a mere wall on which some wonderful musical tapestries are hung. Oh, sure, with less than two weeks of rehearsal, there were glitches in the production numbers. The lighting was sometimes off. The sound system gave out once in a while. And the Bowl camera work could be a little shoddy, which is a problem when some patrons are trying to watch a Broadway musical from their seats all the way out in Pasadena.
But, still, it all worked marvelously. Thanks in no small part to the terrific Marissa Jaret Winokur as Tracy and Harvey Fierstein as her mother. Yep, you non-fans read that right. There is a history in this show that the mom is always played by a guy. Whereas John Travolta completely butchered the part in the recent screen version of the musical, Fierstein brought it back to life as the one and only Edna Turnblad. Okay, Harvey's voice is now so low it threatens to disrupt the sanctity of graveyards all over town. As a singer, he's now more like a door buzzer at a broken down apartment building on the Grand Concourse. Nobody cared. When an actor and a role mesh so perfectly, no audience can really quibble.
There didn't seem to be many slouches in the rest of the cast, either. In true Hollywood Bowl style, the producers mined the local B list talent to flesh out rhe rest of the production. Susan Anton shows up and who even knew she still had an active SAG card? John Stamos, who apparently was a complete mess when he tried to play Albert Peterson in the recently revived "Bye Bye Birdie" fiasco on Broadway, really had little stage presence here as Corny Collins. But, others shone brightly.
Drew Carey, who seems to have lost about five hundred pounds, was ideal as Tracy's dad and even allowed himself to be subjected to a "Price Is Right" throwaway gag. There was one of those Jonas kids playing hunky Link Larkin and the teenage screams didn't let us forget his presence for a single moment. Diana DeGarmo, who lost in one of the worst "American Idol" finals ever, was marvelously geeky as Tracy's girlfriend and a reminder for me of every girl I knew in high school.
There was also somebody named Corbin Bleu who also incited wails from every girl in the vicinity and I had no clue who or what he was. I was apprised that he previously was either a star of "High School Musical" or the name of a new Cajun restaurant in New Orleans. Regardless, Bleu and the "I still can't believe she's still around" Darlene Love shepherded "Hairspray's" "hit you over the head with a sledgehammer" preachy subplot about segregation and integration woes in the 60s.
During their Baptist church-like numbers, I noticed the Black patrons in the audience around me were reacting like they were listening to Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Can you give me an "amen?" Hmmm, is it my imagination or are things better for everybody than they were in 1962?? The musical is looking at history, not present-day America. It was the one false note in an otherwise magical evening, but certainly more of a problem with the viewers than the viewees.
When a show hits you in the breadbasket at just the right time when you're in just the right mood, it's like a shooting star. There for a moment and then gone. Such was the case with "Hairspray" at the Hollywood Bowl. Three performances and now it's merely an archived review in the Hollywood Reporter. But, still, for a few hours this past weekend, lots of us got to forget their cares and woes and dwindling money markets.
Great enterainment doesn't have to be eternal. It's still terrific as long as you get to see it just once.
Dinner last night: Crispy spicy beef at the Cheesecake Factory.
4 comments:
This certainly surprised me and pleasantly. Loads of laughs (thank you, Harvey) and a bright, bouncy score delivered by an engaging cast. Most of the dialogue is new if you've seen the non-musical first film. It helps to be a Baby Boomer because the references are very Sixties.
Broadway came to the Bowl. Bravo!
P.S. Edna at the ironing board has always reminded me of my mother.
Twas my first gaze at this musical and I REALLY enjoyed it. I was happily surprised.
"Twas?"
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