Who might have guessed that the triumphs and trials of Tracy Turnblad, would culminate into such a successful Broadway Musical? Inspired by John Waters’ essay: “The Nicest Kids In Town,” and the subsequent film, Hairspray (The Musical) with its odd mix of sunshiney progressiveness, casual crassness and disingenuous double entendre’ is strangely effective. It feels facile (almost formulaic) yet the alternating doses of optimism and skepticism strike a harmonic balance. It’s like a deadpan comic whose pitch perfect delivery makes outlandish material work. The good guys in Hairspray are certainly not saints, but they know what matters. (Even Mary Tyler Moore sometimes had a hard time being nice to Ted Baxter.) And the bad guys certainly take their turn in the barrel. Figuratively speaking.
Tracy Turnblad is a teenage girl, attending high school in Baltimore, in 1962. She does all the rebellious things bad kids do, ratting her hair, dancing to “negro music,” raising a ruckus when injustice occurs. But, as we all know, bad also means cool. She and her friend, Penny love Corny Collins (think Shindig or American Bandstand) and no one is more surprised when Tracy cinches the audition and gets a spot on the show. She becomes friends with Link Larkin, the steady boyfriend of Amber Van Tussel, the snotty queen bee of Corny Collins (produced by her mother Velma). Amber and Velma make ugly remarks about Tracy’s girth, and of course, Amber’s jealous of Link and Tracy. When Tracy joins the Teen Committee and suggests integration, it’s not met with enthusiasm. But our hero is too determined (naturally) to capitulate.
The key to Hairspray’s success is tone. It’s cheerful and optimistic, but avoids being superficial or candy-ass. If you know John Water’s oeuvre, he directed numerous bargain basement films (Pink Flamingos, Desperate Living, Female Trouble) that nonetheless had a distinct attitude to them. They gleefully flouted taste, sophistication, rudimentary quality and plausibility. Somewhere between the release of Waters’ film: Hairspray and the premiere of the musical, the content shifted. It retained much of his unapologetically creepy, risque humor, while accentuating idealism. This musical is eccentric, off-kilter and funny, but without Waters’s customary hostility. There’s just enough anarchy to entice us, without scaring off the Muggles. Hairspray (The Musical) is chipper, without feeling ridiculous.
Hairspray (The Musical) played July 7th-15th, 2018, through ATTPAC and The Dallas Theater Center at The Winspear Opera House. 2403 Flora Street, Dallas, Texas 75201. 214-880-0202. www.attpac.org