Heather Darbyshire
(2 Reviews)

MANCHESTER - RUN AND TELL THAT - HAIRSPRAY IS IN TOWN!

Manchester, Hairspray is back in town! This show-stopper musical is back, and it is must-see. Everyone at the theatre was buzzing with excitement and couldn’t wait for the new rendition of this theatre classic. Personally, I have never seen Hairspray, but everyone who has only ever comes out saying wonderful things. Safe to say, I was expecting big, bold, and beautiful and I got all that and more.

Tracy Turnblad is a benevolent, plentiful High School Girl, who ends up auditioning for her favourite TV dance show The Corny Collins show after one of the girls has to drop out. At the audition she meets many members of the cast including her long-time crush (Link Larkin) and his girlfriend/Tracy’s mortal enemy (Amber Von Tussle). Unsurprisingly, she gets rejected by the judgemental Velma Von Tussle – Amber’s mother - due to her weight and that same day gets put into a detention. In detention she meets Seaweed, a dancer who is willing to teach Tracy some of his dance moves, as due to segregation in Baltimore they had never met. After refining her new dance skills, she manages to get an opportunity to dance on The Corny Collins show, where she amazes Corny Collins so much, he gives her the position right on the spot. Tracy become the new star of the show, much to Amber’s dismay, gaining more and more votes each week. However, Tracy quickly becomes tired of race discrimination in Baltimore, believing that no matter what you look like everyone should be treated as equals. Will Tracy be able to convince the town that all people deserve equal treatment, or will they be stuck in a land of discrimination and hatred?

I was immediately taken by Takis’ amazing set and costume design. Each outfit was bursting with vibrant colour, prepared to dance to the magnificent routines choreographed by Drew McOnie. One stands out routine must be (The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs. Gina Murray (Chicago, MAMMA MIA!) being lifted in the air whilst the rest of the Corny Collins kids encircles her, whilst she is threatening Tracy to leave the auditions. It was outstanding! Phillip Gladwell’s lighting design just enhanced the experience even more. The deep reds for Velma, the bright multicolour for The Corny Collins Show, the bright white light of the prison institution. As an audience member you truly felt as if you were in Hairspray yourself. Furthermore, Takis’ use of moving slats was not only practical, but also allowed for the set to stay new and intriguing for every routine performed.

Now moving onto the incredible cast. Alexandra Emmerson- Kirby as Tracy Turnblad (professional debut!) was perfect casting by The Grindrod Burton Associates. Her playful energy lasted from beginning to end, always keeping the show entertaining and the audience on their toes. As well as her amazing acting Emmerson- Kirby’s voice was just breath-taking. Her ability to sing a mixture of slow songs like I Can Hear the Bells and upbeat bangers like You Can’t Stop the Beat, was just mind-blowing. Additionally, her partnership with Solomon Davy (Grease, Clueless the Musical) was hilarious! The mix of Link’s utter confusion and Tracy’s undying love to him was such a flawless combination, you couldn’t help but laugh out loud as the absurdity of it all. And they weren’t the only dynamic duo. Freya McMahon as Penny Pingleton  (professional debut!) with Reece Richards as Seaweed J. Stubbs (Motown, 2022 Uk Hairspray Tour) were absolutely electric, their chemistry off the charts.  Also, there was Neil Hurst as Edna Turnblad (Evita, Jungle Book the Musical, Me and My Girl) with Dermot Canavan as Wilbur Turnblad (West Side Story, Oklahoma, Peter Pan) singing (You’re) Timeless to Me was one of the highlights of my evening. The comedic timing of Neil Hurst throughout the whole performance, was just outstanding!

Hairspray always has been and always will be an amazing musical, but this cast takes the cake for one of the best theatre performances I have seen in a long time! The cast and crew all worked together to create an astounding show, every element was clearly made and designed with much thought in mind and all the actors understand the true meaning behind what they are saying. This show was fabulous, and we are all so very lucky that this suburb story isn’t limited to only Manchester. I implore you to free up one day in your diary, and brighten it up with this show, as you are for sure going to walk about smiling ear to ear. Hairspray is an amazing story and has been done just by this astonishing cast, so Manchester, run to the palace theatre right now to watch the show of a lifetime!

WE SCORE HAIRSPRAY THE MUSICAL...

I went into Sweet Dreams, by Marshmallow Laser Feast and Factory International, knowing little to nothing about what I was walking into. From previous research I knew it was an immersive experience, based on expanding my food palette in order to ‘understand what people really want in this weird and wonderful journey into the food chain.’ Safe to say I was fairly nervous walking into this experience. Thankfully, I didn’t seem to be the only one, as like me, many walked in apprehensive and unsure of what to expect.

On entering the experience, we were greeted with walls of information helping to give context before entering the fantasy world. To my knowledge, we were joined by the Real Good Chicken mascot, Chicky Ricky. He has promoted Real Good Chicken for so long that when it comes time to rebrand, as the business is slowing going bust, he realises that he doesn’t know what his true ambition is in life “What Does he want? What does he dream of?” Over the course of the experience, you follow Chicky Ricky’s journey of discovery attempting to uncover the truth and political message about food marketing and how marketing actually affects what and how you eat more than the food itself “Huge companies shape what we eat and why we want to eat it, toying with our desires through advertising. If we were to strip this all away, would we discover what we really want?”

Immediately on entering you were taken away by the visual effect and set design, the use of a cartoon style combines with adorable characters and bright colours. They were breath taking! Throughout the first room you meet the Main character Chicky Rick (Voiced by Munya Chawawa). He introduces you to the history of Real Good Chicken, and his colleagues Penny Peckish, an outdated mascot made of plastic straws (Voiced by Morgana Robinson) and The Boss, the controlling mastermind of Real Good Chicken (Voiced by Reggie Watts). Next you are led into the interactive part of the experience. On entrance you are given a high vis jacket, told that you are now a worker in the Real Good Chicken factory, and must now choose a station and stand in front of it. During this task you work as a team to help the factory keep running by having to press the buttons in front of you, matching up to a machine on the screen. This room was great, as not only did you get to have a part in forming this company, but you simultaneously learn about the corrupt workforce and how Chicky Ricky was running out of time. Afterwards you are led into a beautiful room with resemblance of a church. There was huge colourful stained glass in the wall right above the coffin encasing Chicky Ricky’s body (don’t worry he’s still alive!). The light shined perfectly through it to create the perfect array of colours, that was both eye-catching and seamlessly blended into the surroundings. It was this room in which we were introduced to Chicky Ricky’s internal crisis in which we as a viewer saw how truly frightened, he was to be rebranded.

Then, we entered into the research room. The unique staging of utilizing beanbags as chairs was intriguing, but the amount of graphics fed to you were overwhelming. In here, we were forced to question your morals surrounding eating meat and how much you really knew about the food you were eating. This room was my favourite, by far, as from my perspective it managed to balance sound and visuals so that, yes you were overwhelmed, but still understood the moral message they were attempting to convey. Next you enter into what I would call as ‘The Zen Room’. Firstly, they asked you to sit down and close your eyes before they seemingly begin to hypnotise us? We were surrounded in smoke and a huge white screen containing Chicky Ricky, mirroring the fear and doubt on many of our faces. I have to tell you it was around this point where I began to lose track of the story and what was happening, but from deduction I believe Chicky Ricky wad finally let go from his job as a mascot and set free to be a normal chicken. Finally, we ended on a room with a chicken trough and Chicky Ricky as a free chicken, yet still wanting the processed food from Real Good Chicken.

Whilst the story may have been lost on me in some points, I have to give credit to Marshmallow Laser Feast and Factory International for the incredible visuals. Each room was more beautiful than the previous one! The bold colours in the funeral room perfectly contrasted the strobing lights that would appear in the research room, yet each one managed to flawlessly complement the message it was conveying. Furthermore, Simon Wroe’s dark humour scattered throughout Sweet Dreams was hilarious! Every time, it was so unexpected, leaving you never to know whether you were about to burst out in laughter or freeze in fear. Even though, I couldn’t help but laugh at the Wroe’s humour, it seemed to me like many others were hesitant too. I think in order to combat this problem, the guide may have been better used in order to make the viewer safer and more comfortable in the space. In my opinion, this would have made Sweet Dreams much more enjoyable as the audience would be able to relax and truly take in the story of the experience. Not only would this change relax the audience, but it may also make the message clearer as in the haze of confusion, I felt the political message lost its purpose. However, throughout the experience it was very immersive and the goal of managing to mix film theatre and gaming was definitely achieved. They hit the nail on the head. Although Sweet Dreams wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, I definitely had a great time exploring the story of Chicky Ricky and Real Good Chicken. If you have a spare hour of your time over summer then going to the Sweet Dreams experience may be worth the while, so you can find out for yourself your own interpretation of this fascinating experience.