Did anyone in St. Louis do the Madison when they were growing up?
I was thrust back into my somewhat misspent youth when in Scene 5 of Hairspray, which just opened at the Fox, television disc jockey and would-be Dick Clark, Corny Collins is emceeing a high school dance and announces the dance, saying it began in Baltimore, where the show, and the film from whence it came, is set. (Well, it would, of course; it was a John Waters, the high priest of all things Bawlamer.)
I’d never run into it until I was abruptly thrown into the adult world at an air force base in New England and saw it at a service club dance. I never saw it anywhere else, but it stuck with me because it was un-partnered, like line dancing – and in its basic form was simple enough that even I could do it after watching a few minutes. Nobody was doing the Madison in outstate Missouri in 1962, which is the year Hairspray takes place. Fifteen years later, the only person I ever met who remembered it had gone to high school in Mobile, AL.
In the script, the aforementioned Corny Collins claims it’s a product of Baltimore; Wikipedia says otherwise, crediting it to Columbus, OH, but the Wiki Talk agrees there’s disagreement. No one, of course, expects historical authenticity in a musical comedy. It’s just part of the lighthearted collection of era-specific references that are sprinkled through the show. Some of those flew over the heads of the delightfully young audience on opening night, with plenty of under-21s and even more under-40s, always a good sign for the continuing health of the theatre arts.
Surely by now you know the story – pudgy, slightly rebellious teenager longs to appear on a local after-school-dance-party TV show. Mother refuses permission, teen makes it on the show only to announce on-air that she’d like to make the monthly Negro Day obsolete and just have kids of any color dancing. Chaos ensues.
The teenager, named Tracy Turnblad, is Niki Metcalf, having a whale of a good time in this high-energy role. Her mother Edna, played by Andrew Levitt, is more sprightly than some interpretations of the role, and we realize that Edna probably wasn’t all that old when she had Tracy. Her pop, Christopher Swan’s take on Wilbur Turnblad, seems to be having a whale of a good time being uxorious. (Look it up.)
Tracy’s nemesis is Amber Von Tussle. The ultimate Mean Girl/Queen Bee is played by O’Fallon, IL, native Kaelee Albritton, who carries off Amber’s venomous attacks with glee, and even manages a particularly amazing wig without batting an eye. Amber’s mom Velma, Addison Garner, who was clearly Amber’s role model, turns out to be the producer of the Corny Collins Show, giving her extra leverage to keep Tracy and her multiracial pals out. Sandie Lee appears as Motormouth Maybelle, the mother of one of her friends, and a leader in the Black community, a strong woman played with more dignity than the character’s name implies.
A fun score, even for people too young to remember the earlier years of rock and roll, and energetic choreography. Even the costumes hit the right note, being close to the way it really looked.
So much fun and lots of good work.
Hairspray
through April 9
The Fox Theatre
527 N. Grand
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