Reviewed by Amy Adeliyi
Hairspray is the musical story of a teenage girls attempt to overcome prejudice in small town America. Tracy is not the picture perfect American girl but has ambitions to dance and be a star, she faces prejudice as she doesn’t fit the image for TV and is knocked back from auditions. She then is befriended by black peers and spends time learning and joining in their different style of dance. She doesn’t understand the need for segregation and attempts to integrate both styles of dance on the dance show, eventually achieving a mixed ethnic dance show.
Once you got past the shrill teenage American accents of the main characters and felt them relax into their roles and numerous songs, the show really came to life. You felt like the action didn’t stop from one scene to the next with bright colourful costumes, fast paced dance moves to the powerful voices in the showtunes.
The singers really came into their own on the power ballads, especially ‘big, blonde and beautiful’, ‘without love’ and ‘I know where I’ve been’. Motormouth Maybelle had an amazingly powerful voice and completely stole the show with her performance.
The scene with Tracy’s parents in the second half, felt somewhat panto in style with the humorous ‘You’re Timeless to Me’ song and comedic acting, albeit showing a great rapport with the actors and enjoyment within their roles.
The Mayflower Theatre is close to rail links and has plenty of parking in multi-story car parks close by. Be aware that traffic can be busy before the show so ensure you plan for extra time to avoid being late to a performance.
The theatre itself is very clean and the interior looked well maintained. The Mayflower was well staffed with plenty of helpful friendly ushers, aiding the theatre goers with directions and the purchase of refreshments in the interval. The seating can be quite tight, especially for those with long legs, so I would advise purchasing seats on the end of an aisle so that legs can be stretched out in the aisle during the show.
Overall, I would recommend watching the show if you enjoy lots of singing and dancing with the added thought provoking portrayal of prejudice in small town America.
Rating: 4/5
Tickets cost from £24.50 to £49.50 (booking fees may apply).
Hairspray is at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton from 22-27 January 2018, for more information or to book tickets visit www.mayflower.org.uk or call the box office on 02380 711811.
Mayflower Theatre, Commercial Road, Southampton, SO15 1GE | 02380 711811
