Hairspray

So a little slow off the mark, but thanks to TheatreFix, I finally went to see Hairspray on Thursday night. I'm still trying to work out if I liked it or not.

We had understudies for Link and Penny but Michael Ball and Leanne Jones were both on, which I was glad about. I'm not a massive Michael Ball fan but honestly, I completely forgot it was him after about five minutes. He was just brilliant, and You're Timeless To Me just made the show completely.

In total contrast, I was majorly disappointed by Leanne. Her breath control was dreadful throughout, but as soon as she had to sign and dance simultaneously, she was out of tune more often than not. She really seemed just to be going through the motions, and was gabbling half the script which made it seem like she just wanted it to go quicker. Having heard such fantastic things, she really let me down.

Of course it's good fun... I don't see how you could fail to come out after that finale feeling in a good mood and totally uplifted but aside from Edna/Wilbur and Penny/Seaweed, I wasn't massively impressed with the cast and felt that there was a lot of untapped potential in the show that was just wasted because the cast seemed to be very much in the middle of their three month dip. Still, not bad for £15.