Theatre Trip: Hairspray

 HAIRSPRAY

Coliseum Theatre
Date: 23 September (Thursday), 7:30pm
Seats: Dress Circle, B1-2
(Seen with Jess!)

Understudies: Wilbur Turnblad (Dermot Canavan), Motormouth Maybelle (Sharlene Hector), Male Authority Figure (Christopher Howell), Lorraine (Tinovimbanashe Sibanda), Tammy (Annie Guy)

I was very excited for this show! I love the movie of Hairspray but I have never seen it live. I thought I might miss it given it was on over the summer, but luckily we have refund vouchers and it was on for just another few weeks. So Jess used the voucher from one of our other shows and we booked it!

We picked the seats in Row B which were supposedly restricted view but when we got there ended up being pretty amazing! I enjoy seeing a little bit off the side of the stage so it was good for that and the only thing we couldn't see was the scoreboard at the dance competition, which was totally fine.

We were a little disappointed about the understudies when we arrived. Les Dennis plays Wilbur, Tracy's father, and he is a pretty famous comedian here in the UK. He was off, which wasn't what I really was annoyed about. I was most excited to see Motormouth Maybelle, who was being played by Marisha Wallace. We had recently seen her in Waitress and she had been great, so I was very sad to see that she was actually out this evening.

I needn't have worried though, the cast was amazing. A lot of the young people were starting their careers on the West End with this show, including Link (Jonny Amies) and Tracey (Lizzie Bea), and every single one was incredible!!! Tracey was flawless and Link was swoon-worthy but I think my favourite was Amber (Georgia Anderson) and Penny (Mari McGinlay). Amber was such a toddler, throwing tantrums and being very over the top which was lots and lots of fun! Penny was also over the top, but she was such a nerd. Twitching and being deliberately dorky which really made everyone laugh, and she had such a great transformation as a result!

The Motomouth Maybelle was incredible - you would never have guessed that she was the understudy! She was so amazing vocally and had such an incredible power. And the understudy for Wilbur was also super, although he did corpse at one point. Edna made him laugh so much that it put them both off in 'You're Timeless To Me'! He had embraced her form behind and had hidden his face because he was laughing, but Edna could feel his shaking and made an on stage comment about it which had the audience cackling!

The main draw in the casting was Michael Ball playing Edna! He was so fantastic, sang gorgeously and of course, did it all in heels! Super star. The curtain call had everyone up on their feet dancing along and Jess and I did our best to keep up with the choreography! Even though it was a Thursday night after working and we were both tired, this show had us back on our feet jumping up and down! It was so fun.

Theatre Trip: Waitress #5

 WAITRESS

New Wimbledon Theatre
Date: 10 September (Friday), 7:30pm
Seats: Stalls, Row O39
(Seen with Richard, Jess and Linda!)

This is my FIFTH time seeing Waitress, but I'm glad I had the opportunity! I wanted to see it again on the West End before it closed, but unfortunately due to Covid it closed early at the Adelphi. But now we're back in theatres, it's back - only this time, on tour!

We met our friends for dinner before hand at the Five Guys in Wimbledon. After burgers we headed over to the theatre. It was a long line because of the checks to get in (all of us are double vaxxed at this point, however Richard wasn't 2 weeks out from his second yet so he did a lateral flow test to get in), but we got in in plenty of time and even had time for the bathroom!

The cast was almost the same as on the West End - Lucie Jones still playing Jenna. I really love her Jenna and still think she is my favourite portrayal I've seen of this part. However, this was my first time seeing Matt Willis as Dr Pomatter. He was nowhere as good, I thought as David Hunter, which is a shame - but I guess they needed a 'big name' for the tour? His on-purpose fumbles were much less cute and came across to me as more annoying, which was a shame.

Ogie was amazing - I didn't get his name though! He was eager and perfectly over the top and he made me smile so much. He was also the highlight of the show for Richard, who otherwise thought it was an unremarkable show (his loss!). Evelyn Hoskins is also still my favourite Dawn as well and I felt like her vocals were really great on this evening. They made a really excellent couple with both of them making the same level of nerd and cute together.

This is the first time I've seen a different Becky. Sandra Marvin was nowhere near as good as Marisha Wallace (who is currently in Hairspray as Motormouth Maybelle - coming up next week!), and I actually found her a bit hard to understand. Again, Richard (who was seeing it for the first time) found it hard to hear her lyrics, and I didn't have the same trouble but I guess I know all the words already which helps me!

Overall, it was a good show and I'm glad I went, but there also seemed to be some issues with the sound. I'm not sure if it was because it was on tour (and a different setup), or individual mics, or where we were sitting, but it was nowhere near as crisp and clear as it was on the West End. I guess as well this is the first time that I've seen a West End show and then the same show with the same cast (or, almost) in a different venue, so maybe I'm just noticing it for the first time? Who knows, but I do love Waitress.

And this write-up is late, because work is being extremely busy at the moment, but in just a few days I'm off to see Hairspray after work and I am very excited! I've never seen it live but I love the movie so what could go wrong?