Hey, I've got a great theater recommendation for you — providing you live in or near Los Angeles and providing you can get tickets. It's a new production of the musical Hairspray and it's in for a too-limited run at the Cupcake Theater in North Hollywood. As you may have heard, NBC is soon to telecast a live, big-budget version of this show packed with stars and that's all well and good. But I can't imagine they could do a better job than what I saw last night at the Cupcake.
The Cupcake is where I saw that great production of Little Shop of Horrors which I raved about here. What they did with Hairspray would be impressive in a big, fancy theater but is even more impressive in a small, not-so-fancy facility that was obviously not built to be a theater. I was in the second row and the dancers were practically dancing in our laps. Not that that would be a bad thing with some of them.
There was almost no scenery but there was surprisingly good costuming and, best of all, a very high level of talent displayed by the two dozen performers. You kind of excuse the lack of sets because there wouldn't be room for them with that many actors (about two dozen) crowded onto a stage that would seem full with a two-person play. And also, Hairspray kind of looks right with, costumes aside, about half the budget of a high school musical.
The show was directed by Wendy Rosoff, who I know primarily as an actress. She delivered Broadway-quality staging and since I don't see a choreographer listed in the program book, she seems to also have been the one who provided the Broadway-quality choreography. If so, amazing. The live band headed by Nick Petrillo was spot-on perfect.
Now, here's where I'd ordinarily start praising the stand-out cast members by name and that's tough because, like I said, there two dozen of them and they were all good. So I'll just mention Brittany Thornton dazzling as an energetic Tracy Turnblad, comedian Teddy Margass getting every laugh possible as Tracy's mother Edna, David J. Hall and Nic Olsen (both perfect as the two leading men — one black, one white.), Carly Lucas being scintillating and devilish as the conniving Velma, Joey Langford in fine voice as the slick Dick Clark doppelganger, and Terika Jefferson taking the roof off the dump as Motormouth Maybelle.
Everyone was great but I think the actress who most impressed me was Claire Adams, who plays the vapid, clumsy Penny Pingleton. I once heard an acting teacher say that the measure of an actor was whether he/she is properly in character when they aren't speaking and don't have the main attention in the scene. Do they still stand and hold their characters, reacting properly when they're in the background or off to one side? The teacher suggested watching Gene Wilder in any of his films and noting what he's doing when you might not normally be looking at him. That's when you appreciate what a fine actor he is (or now sadly, was).
So there's this lady named Claire Adams playing Penny and Penny is goofy and funny and awkward every time the script gives her something goofy and funny and awkward to say or do. Fine. But I kept noticing Ms. Adams somehow being goofy and funny and awkward every second she was on stage, even when all eyes but mine were on some other fine performer belting out a tune…and I found myself laughing at Penny's body language. Or at her expressions which perfectly supported the scene…
…and I kinda fooled myself. I knew — because I know the play, SPOILER ALERT! — that at the end, Penny is going to lose the nerdy glasses and the Supercuts hairdo and J.C. Penney back-to-school outfit and suddenly become, at least for a few moments, the hottest woman on stage. So intellectually, I know they've cast a stunning actress and dressed her way, way down to make her look as blah as possible.
Right. I know that. But she looks so uber-drab that I couldn't see the slightest trace of potential in her Penny and I actually thought, "Gee, I wonder how they're going to make her look good at the end." Well, of course, all Ms. Adams had to do was take off the wig and glasses and probably just be herself. Boy, she's a good actress.
Of course, she's surrounded by good actors and actresses and expert producing. After the show, it was too late to get into Spumante, a fine restaurant across the street where Ed Asner seems to be in permanent residence, so we went to another place about two miles away. By coincidence, about 45 minutes later, in walks Michael Pettenato, who was the producer of the show and, I believe, he owns the Cupcake Theater. We talked to him for a while about how great the show is…and it was delightful how delighted he was with it and everyone in it. He has a right to be proud. Local theater — created on such a low budget in an improvised performing space — isn't supposed to be this good.
This Hairspray is there through December 17 but they only do three performances a week. You can buy discount tickets at Goldstar but even the full-price tickets at the Cupcake Theater website are a great deal. If you can afford it, go for full price because this place needs all the financial support it can get.
If you have kids who've never experienced a genuine musical comedy up close, this would be a great one to show them what it's all about. Half of them will want to see more shows like this one and the other half will want to be in shows like this one.