Hairspray @ The Marlowe Theatre Review

visit here… After missing the opportunity to see Hairspray on West End, I jumped at the chance to see at The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury. A colourful, energetic story revolving around Tracy and her fight for change. Set in a racially segregated Baltimore in 1962, Tracy successfully becomes part of the Corny Collins TV show, only to discover that her black friends are only allowed to dance on the show one day a month. She quickly sets about changing this, fighting for their right to dance together.

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Rebecca Mendoza is an absolutely fantastic Tracy Turnblad. Funny, likeable, kind hearted and strong willed, with energy in abundance. I am in awe of her performance and cannot believe it is her professional debut. Annalise Liard-Bailey is a sweet, naive and adorably dorky Penny, with a voice that packs a punch.

Matt Rixon as Edna Turnblad is by far my favourite, an absolutely hilarious performance that has me giggling throughout. He has genuine chemistry with his cast members on stage and completely captivates the audience with his warm, funny personality. His onstage relationship with Wilbur (Norman Pace) is a joy to watch and their rendition of ‘Timeless’ was laugh out loud funny.

Layton Williams as Seaweed brimgs energy and sass to the stage, with his back flips and impressive dance ability. Jon Tsouras plays Corny Collins with the perfect amount of flamboyance that is again a joy to watch. Brenda Edwards sings the roof off as Motormouth Maybelle with her rendition of ‘I know where I’ve been’ absolutely blowing the audience away.

The cast are fun, fresh and full of energy. For many of them it is their professional debut performance and that certainly comes across in their energy, stamina and enthusiasm. They sweep me up with a performance full of high kicks, back flips and laughs a minute. The whole production is vibrant and over the top in all its greatness. I laugh, (nearly) cry, laugh some more, tap my feet, sing along and desperately want to be on stage with them. A fantastic production and one that you absolutely must see! 5/5

Review written by Stacie Pollard.

Hairspray is currently showing until Saturday 12th May 2018 at the Marlowe Theatre. To find out more about the production, visit here…

Written by Theatrefullstop