You can’t stop the beat at the London Coliseum right now! This joyous and energetic musical has, for the past few months, been delighting audiences as one of the first musicals to reopen. It’s actually a relief to see shows that had planned to open before the shutdown still being able to open.

The cast

Two main vocal standouts for me in this cast were Michael Vinsen as Corny Collins and Ashley Samuels as Seaweed. Both emulated charm and confidence in their respective roles, with the hip-swivelling moves to go alongside it. Standby Tracy Turnblad, Natalie Woods, played the role in a sweet and bouncy way, but ultimately I feel she got lost within the rest of the cast. Maybe this was the sound mixing, but I often struggled to hear her when she was singing.

Marisha Wallace is a West End star in her own right and it’s always wonderful to see her in anything. I always say this, but I’ll say it again: Broadway didn’t appreciate her enough! Which I guess worked out well for us because now we seem to have her over here full time. She undoubtedly gets the biggest round of applause for her rendition of “I Know Where I’ve Been” as Motormouth Maybelle.

Let’s not sugar coat it though, Michael Ball is the main draw for this revival. It’s hard to ignore when you can buy his face on every type of merchandise they have going. Of course, he was wonderful in Edna Turnblad’s shoes (he didn’t win the Olivier for nothing, you know). But I could do without the over-excited fans who couldn’t stop singing and dancing. Les Dennis is the perfect other half to this onstage partnership, completing this dynamic duo.

Overdue an update?

Despite being a comedy musical, Hairspray explores themes of racial segregation and prejudice in Jim Crow’s America. I think there’s no doubt that this musical is well-meaning, but it’s not without its issues. The lyrics “’cause tomorrow is a brand new day, and it don’t know white from black” have been changed to “it see’s both white and black” which is already an improvement.

This show about African American experiences in 1960s America is written by white people, for a white audience, featuring a white character at the centre. The main plot revolves around Tracy’s dreams of starring on the Corny Collins show in a society that believes only skinny is beautiful. The segregation protests are mostly a subplot to Tracy fulfilling her dreams. It feels like they’re making a comparison that being subjected to fatophobia is the same as experiencing racism. Both are issues within their own right, but they’re not the same. It’s a very whitewashed version of the Civil Rights movement with the white saviour trope in plain sight.

As I said before, I think it’s well-intentioned. I don’t have suggestions for changes, but the creative really need to sit down and have a think about this one. I know some people will be very touchy about this idea of changing things, but we have to remember this show was written in 2002 based on a movie released in 1988. There’s nothing wrong with adapting and improving theatre as time goes on. Theatre is a living piece of art that can be open to changes. Nothing needs to be set in stone. But right now we’re seeing Tracy being represented as the leader of the movement because she thinks segregation is ‘trendy’ and I just don’t think that’s a great look.

What moments were a highlight?

The first thing I want to mention was actually a mishap, but it cracked me up. During ‘Without Love’ when Link is singing about freeing Tracy from jail, the door to the cell was accidentally already open. Natalie Woods (standby Tracy Turnblad) attempted to close it but it kept reopening. Then Jonny Amies (Link Larkin), hero of our time, did this wonderfully smooth spin and shut the door as he sang the line “never set me free”. It got a big chuckle out of the audience. Seeing fun mistakes like that always reminds you of the beauty of live theatre. These are the kinds of moments that make the show you’re seeing different from one others will have seen.

A scene I always enjoy is “Big Doll House” which opens Act Two. My only gripe with it is that I think it could be a much bigger number than what it is. It has so much tap dancing potential that they wasted. Then, of course, we have the iconic “You Can’t Stop The Beat” which is the perfect uplifting number to end the show!

Theatre-going experience

Masks? This audience hasn’t heard of them. I think they would have really benefited from having Michael Ball making an announcement to wear masks. Maybe his hoard of fans would have listened to that. But most of them ignored the three generic announcements throughout incoming. By the end there was only really me and mum wearing them around our area.

The size of the London Coliseum is impressive, but the stage felt really far away. Granted, I was in the middle of the upper circle. However, the orchestra pit is completely in the open at the foot of the stage which means the stalls begin further back. I really enjoyed seeing tiny little blurs of colour dancing on the stage though.

Final thoughts

This colourful, fun show has a lot of great bops and standout performances, but the plot does feel dated. I really would love to see the next revival of Hairspray (because this show always comes back around) making changes to update the plot. They have already changed one lyric but I just don’t feel like that was enough.

This toe-tapping, upbeat show was definitely a great way to spend my afternoon. I was humming the tunes all the way home.