Hairspray – Shaftesbury Theatre

I admit that I am not a musicals fan. I also own up to the fact that I had seen the film – mostly because I like John Travolta (although not necessarily in drag). Nonetheless, I did enjoy my evening at Hairspray and, like everyone else at the show, came out into the warm evening West End air with a spring in my step and a smile on my face.

At the start of the evening we were running behind schedule, so we nipped down Endell Street to the fabulous fish and chips shop there and ate thick, salty chips on the street. We were a little disappointed to see that Nigel Planer would not be making an appearance (although I admit that Adam Price did an excellent cover job) but excited at the prospect of Billy Conley as Tracy Turnblad’s mother Edna – and he kind of stole the show.

Having taken our seats at 715pm we had a little time to admire the gorgeously intricate lion, angel and leaf carvings in this old theatre – and the huge chandelier almost hidden by the banks of lights. The loos here are old and small (at the interval the queue was horrendous so be warned). Unfortunately, the man sat in front of us was huge – so our view was a little obscured – but it didn’t spoil the evening for us as it can in some theatres.

For those who are unfamiliar with the story, it revolves around a rotund young Tracy who has a passion for dancing, a crush on Linc – lead dancer with her arch enemy Amber on a TV music show, ambitions to see the integration of the black and white dancers on that show and endearingly comic parents and a rather flaky friend.

The show opens with a neat piece of staging showing Tracy waking in her bed with a lively number introducing us to Baltimore in 1962 and a world poised for change. The great sets and energetic music were a reliable introduction to what we could expect for the rest of the evening and the fabulous costumes and hair styles (which were much better than the film) and enthusiastic dance routines were mesmerising.

The younger members of the cast caught the essence of excitable young teens squealingly well. Some of the dance moves were extraordinary – and few could have failed to miss the stunning and talented Adrian Hansel as Seaweed. My daughter was delighted that there was also a tap routine later in the show.

For the most part, the quality of the singing was really good and the songs catchy. “I can hear the bells” and “It takes two” both made me laugh out loud – as did the later number with Tracey’s parents who hammed it up shamelessly for “Timeless to me”. I particularly liked “Mama, I’m a big girl now” – both for its irony on the lead’s figure and its chorus of “Stop. No. Don’t – Please!” that is the essence of so many mother-daughter conversations.

Several times I was transported to scenes from other famous musicals – particularly to Little Shop of Horrors when the Dynamite trio burst out of their poster (what awesome red sparkly costumes!), to Chicago with “Big Dollhouse” and to the Blues Brothers for “Big, Blonde and Beautiful”. The most famous number - “You can’t stop the beat” – repeated several times in the finale and my daughter’s favourite – encouraged even the most reluctant members of the audience to clap and sing along.

The tongue in cheek racism made us laugh (albeit a little uncomfortably) and reminded us that such views, whilst unbelievably crass now, were fairly common place not that long ago. I’m not sure that the younger members of the audience would pick up on that though. It was nice to see the usual stereotypes blasted away – Tracy is fat, her mother (albeit played by Brian) is fat and Seaweed’s DJ mother is fat – so the majority of the lead characters are on the large side. With all the high octane dancing in the show, I am amazed that they haven't slimmed down to a storyline breaking trimmer size!

Anyway, Hairspray is an enjoyable light show to make you tap, clap and smile. It is bound to delight both young (especially the nicest kids in town) and old musical lovers.