REVIEW: Hairspray at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley

With this tour and last summer’s residency of a different production at the London Coliseum, it seems we’re never far away from a squirt of Hairspray. The story concerns Tracy Turnblad’s desire to become a star on the local TV dance show in her home town of Baltimore in 1962 and how she encounters and deals with racism and body shaming along the way. The serious underlying issues combine with great tunes and a frothy, comic topping to make this an enduring classic. 

If you’ve not seen it before you’ll find Marc Shaiman’s tunes are instantly appealing and energetically delivered by the on-set band. By the way, the sound was great. Loud but not over-bearing and great balance between vocals and band, which sounds obvious not all shows get this right. 

REVIEW: Hairspray at the London Coliseum

Hairspray rang for over 1000 performances in its original West End run from 2007 to 2010 winning 11 Olivier Nominations with Michael Ball playing the role at the opening at the Shaftesbury Theatre. With the Black Lives Matters campaign getting so much recent publicity it is a timely reminder of how things were in the USA in the early sixties with this heart-warming revival at the Coliseum in London with Michael Ball reprising his role as Edna Turnblad, a role he clearly loves.  

The musical written by O’Donnell, Meehan, Shaiman and Wittman has an upbeat message of hope and accepting who you are. This revival is true to the original Broadway production with the same creative team of Director Jack O’Brien, choreographer Jerry Mitchell, and Set Designer David Rockwell. If anything, it looks a little small on the gigantic Coliseum stage with a large false proscenium to reduce the stage opening but the energetic performances and strong vocals are big enough to feel the beautiful cavernous Frank Matcham designed auditorium and delight the full house of two thousand seats. It was a bold decision by the Producers to hire this venue but the combination of Michael Ball’s popularity, the strong familiar score and a desire for a post-pandemic theatrical lift is filling the venue and delighting the audience. 

REVIEW: Hairspray at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre

The audiences at The Mayflower Southampton love a musical and you could feel the warmth and excitement in the auditorium this week as Hairspray arrived on its UK tour that runs until April 2022. It is slightly curious to find another production at the Coliseum in London with Michael Ball and Les Dennis in the roles of Edna and Wilbur opening around the same time with plenty of publicity for Ball returning to a role he clearly loves. Hopefully, both shows will benefit from the publicity and serve different audiences, but it is a testament to the quality of the musical written by O’Donnell, Meehan, Shaiman and Wittman that producers believe it can sell so many tickets and its upbeat message of hope and change will resonate as audiences return post-pandemic.

The difference between the two shows, apart from the lead casting, is the staging of the show with the touring show necessarily stripped back for ease of its weekly move but the result is a show that at times feels more like a staged concert than a full-blown Musical Theatre. In the TV studio scenes, the usual cameras have been dispensed with and we are left with an open stage with the band behind on a raised platform. Other scenes are backed by black cloth although when they do project scenes on backcloth, they are effective especially in “Welcome to the sixties” where the record discs images are gradually replaced by Black and White Images from the Civil Rights Movement at the time. The two small downstage trucks are regularly used for interior scenes such a the Turnblad sitting room or Wilbur’s joke shop but for those seated in the side aisles, it is less than perfect staging.

COMING HOME: Richard Meek, opening in the UK tour of Hairspray

Pocket Size Theatre and Liza Heinrichs (Captured by Liz) have teamed up again and created our new series 'Coming Home'. In this new piece, we look at the reopening of Theatres in London and around the country and celebrate our industry coming back. We got together some performers who will be some of the first to return to theatres and created this piece to bring some positivity to the theatre industry which has been through one of the toughest years in our lifetime. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the hardships we've all gone through, it's important we pull together as a community and celebrate our beloved industry finally coming back! 

We meet Richard fresh from the cast announcement of the UK tour of Hairspray, in which he will be playing the role of Corny Collins, a role and show he says is one of his dream jobs. We met Richard at the Playhouse Theatre, a place he is pretty familiar with! He appeared in The Rocky Horror show playing Eddie/Dr. Scott at the Playhouse, he later went on tour with the show in the same roles before taking over the role of Brad Majors, a role he had played previously. 

With a CV almost as long as my arm, Richard has had a really wonderful career. He’s appeared as Rooster in the UK Tour of Annie, as Trevor Graydon in the UK Tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie, starred as Leo Bloom in the international production of The Producers, played Sir Galahad in the UK Tour of Spamalot, played Dustin and covered Greaseball in the Bochum production of Starlight Express and has played the title role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, to name but a few of his many credits! 

COMING HOME: Liam Dean, about to head out on tour with Hairspray

Pocket Size Theatre and Liza Heinrichs (Captured by Liz) have teamed up again and created our new series 'Coming Home'. In this new piece, we look at the reopening of Theatres in London and around the country and celebrate our industry coming back. We got together some performers who will be some of the first to return to theatres and created this piece to bring some positivity to the theatre industry which has been through one of the toughest years in our lifetime. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the hardships we've all gone through, it's important we pull together as a community and celebrate our beloved industry finally coming back! 

Before the pandemic, Liam Dean’s career in theatre was really kick-starting. Having only just graduated in 2019, Liam joined the touring cast of Priscilla Queen of the Desert as a swing and also had another job, the touring production of Hairspray, on the horizon. Joining Priscilla in February meant his time with the show was cut incredibly short and his next venture was also in jeopardy. But after a long year, things are starting to look much better. We met with Liam at the Shaftsbury Theatre, the original home to Hairspray when it made its London debut!

Although the tour of Priscilla will start up again, Liam will finally be joining the Hairspray tour playing Fender and also covering Corny Collins. Although he is sad to be leaving the Priscilla bus behind, he moves onto another one of his dream jobs and can’t wait to see his fellow Queens fly the flag around the UK. “This show (Priscilla) will always have a special place in my heart and I would love to see the show back up and running and see all my colleges from that show giving the incredible performances I got to witness!”. 

COMING HOME: Kody Mortimer, soon to be in the revival of Hairspray at the London Coliseum

Pocket Size Theatre and Liza Heinrichs (Captured by Liz) have teamed up again and created our new series 'Coming Home'. In this new piece, we look at the reopening of Theatres in London and around the country and celebrate our industry coming back. We got together some performers who will be some of the first to return to theatres and created this piece to bring some positivity to the theatre industry which has been through one of the toughest years in our lifetime. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the hardships we've all gone through, it's important we pull together as a community and celebrate our beloved industry finally coming back! 

Due to make his West End debut back in April 2020, Kody Mortimer was meant to be appearing in the London revival of Hairspray. But with the closures of theatres back in March, he didn’t make it to the stage of the London Coliseum and make his West End debut, however, he still will! 

Hairspray is due to open at the London Coliseum on the 21st June 2021, meaning Kody will finally make his West End debut in this fabulous show. Kody will be playing the role of Thad and appearing in the ensemble. A recent graduate from the Royal Academy of Music, he was in the new production of Gypsy at the Manchester Exchange and over lockdown was a part of the original concept album for the new musical, Black Widows. Kody tells us what it was like to work on his first original piece of work Black Widows: “it was great fun, I learnt new material no one had ever done before and got to record and it just felt amazing!” 

10 Most Iconic Mothers in Musical Theatre | Mothers Day Special

Mamma Rose in Gypsy 

Donna in Mamma Mia 

Diana in Next to Normal 

Best Couples in Musical Theatre!

Elphaba and Fiyero from WICKED

Click here to book tickets and get a FREE upgrade! 

George and Albin from LA CAGE AUX FOLLES 

12 production shots that describe the struggles of being in a Musical

When you get a whiff of your costume and clearly it hasn't been dry cleaned in weeks.

2016 Revival of Half A Sixpence 

When you catch a glimpse of a really fit audience member. 

2017 UK tour of Grease the Musical 

When its a double show day and your legs just say no. 

2012 production of Cabaret at the Savoy Theatre

FIRST LOOK: In rehearsals with the UK tour of HAIRSPRAY

Rehearsal images for smash-hit musical Hairspray have been released today ahead of the UK tour which kicks off in Cardiff at Wales Millennium Centre on 16th August 2017. This major UK tour will visit more than 30 venues across the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland until early summer 2018.

Tickets are now on sale at www.hairsprayuktour.com/tour-dates.

Featuring the iconic music and lyrics by Academy Award, Tony and Emmy winning duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, this much-loved musical comedy is choreographed by Olivier Award-winning Drew McOnie with direction from Paul Kerryson.