You can’t stop the beat! Hairspray heads to the Wolverhampton Grand

One of the happiest shows around is, of course, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman’s Hairspray, with its cult following and a message of acceptance which certainly hits home.

Based on the 1988 film of the same name, starring Divine and Ricki Lake, the original stage version enjoyed a successful run on Broadway, winning no less than eight Tony Awards. When it hit the West End in 2007, the Olivier Awards followed. Hairspray then enjoyed international success too, before being re-released as a movie in 2007, this time starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken and John Travolta.

The storyline is so warm and thought-provoking it will melt even the hardest heart.

It’s Baltimore in 1962 and the loveable, cuddly Tracy Turnblad wins the right to dance on America’s favourite teenage pop TV programme, The Corney Collins Show, despite her chubby physique which is the complete antithesis of her glamorous, slim counterparts. In this she gives hope to larger ladies everywhere.

But when teen heartthrob, Link Larkin falls in love with Tracy, it’s just too much for TV producer Velma Von Tussell and her daughter Amber to bear and so they set about putting Tracy in her place at every opportunity.

Undeterred by the pair’s antics, Tracy remains proud of her body, mainly because size runs in the family. Mum Edna is larger than life and so for Tracy, big is best.

Meanwhile, Tracy’s best friend Penny Pingleton is also in love, but it’s a forbidden romance as her intended is Seaweed, a beautiful black boy. Quite a scandal in 1962.

The 2017 tour hits the ground running at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from February 26- March 3, with an all-star cast. I spoke to some of them recently.

X Factor contestant, turned musical theatre star, Brenda Edwards plays Motormouth Maybelle in the show.

From a Gospel background, Brenda’s love of singing comes from her grandma, who was the mother of a Pentecostal church and raised Brenda and her brother after their parents were tragically killed in a car accident when Brenda was just four.

“We had to go to church four or five time as week and so it was almost like I was doing a show!” she laughs.

“People often ask me if I have had formal training, but I haven’t. Gospel singing is the best training you can have for your voice. Stevie Wonder, Whitney Huston, Aretha Franklin were all brought up in churches and when you sing in a big church building, that is where you learn to project.

“My family said I have always been singing and the one memory I have of my parents was that they always used to play music and so I come a very musical family. From an early age and at school, I was always the one singing in Silent Night in assembly,” Brenda laughs.

“I love Motormouth and it is probably my favourite role” she says. And that is praise indeed, as Brenda has played some amazing musical theatre characters, including Momma Morton in Chicago and Killer Queen in We Will Rock you, which she played for five years, both on tour and in the West End.

“I have been very lucky to play some amazing roles, but Motormouth is special. She is a mother and that is how I try to be on the tour as well. Everyone calls me Mother B off stage,” says Brenda. “It’s probably because I have kids the same age as some of the cast and I miss my children, so I kind of adopt them. I have not had acting lessons but acting is my life, so I am very real with the character, because I find it very easy to just be her.”

You cannot discuss Hairspray with a black performer without touching on the obvious racial aspect of the storyline. I asked Brenda how she feels about the way in which black people were treated back in the 1950’s and ‘60s.

“I don’t think I would have survived,” she says. “Knowing how strong a person I am and how I say things before I think about it. I admire the people from that time and cannot even begin to think of how it was for them.

“I always say to people, cut me and I bleed,” says Brenda. “I don’t know where racism started or how or why, but it’s wrong. We are a human race. More people need to look at each other and say, ‘you are my neighbour and whatever your racial upbringing or personal beliefs, we are all just the same’. And that’s the story of Hairspray; trying to amalgamate and stop the segregation. It is up to society to try and change and we do this in the show.”

Brenda has the pleasure of singing the show stopper, I Know Where I’ve Been, a huge song which comes from the soul.

“For me, every song is like a story,” says Brenda. You have a beginning, a middle and an end.”

Brenda’s performance is nothing less than superb.

Hairspray is so uplifting and meaningful it takes a special leading lady to take on the role of Tracy and no one is better suited than Rebecca Mendoza, its current star. I ask Rebecca how she maintains her stamina. Tracey is a huge role and Rebecca hardly leaves the stage, so it’s full on.

“I think I am still running off adrenalin! I’m like a Duracell Bunny,” she laughs.

This is Rebecca’s first professional job, having only just graduated from Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in July 2017.

“As I have come straight from college and only having a week between graduating and starting this job, my fitness levels did not drop and so I didn’t have a chance to breathe.”

I asked Rebecca if she wore padding for the role because she isn’t particularly chubby. I was surprised when she says: “No, it’s all me! I think it is the clever way in which they do the costumes, but hopefully they will have to pad me soon if I lose weight through all this hard work,” she laughs.

“The character of Tracy is far more complex than people first think. She is a highly intelligent girl who is way ahead of her time, yet she never gets angry at society, she just can’t understand the challenges in life.”

Hairspray is such a wonderful tale of acceptance, especially for the young girls who come along to see the show.

“I had massive struggles even when auditioning for drama schools because I was told I was too big,” says Rebecca. “But I kept going and, in the end, found a school which embraced everything about me. This musical for me makes me feel as if I can do anything.”

The role of Tracy’s mother, Edna Turnblad, is traditionally played by a man, in this case musical theatre star Matt Rixon, who bears an uncanny resemblance and sounds exactly like his dad, the wonderful Matthew Kelly.

“Edna for me is like every woman I grew up with, says Matt. “I grew up the north west where we used to live in back to back houses and where all the kids used to play on the streets while one mum stood on the doorstep having a fag, looking out for them. They were all working women, hard, but hearts as big as themselves and to me, that’s Enda.”

Was it difficult for Matt to create the female traits required for the role?

“What was difficult, was not to over do it,” he says. “Edna is not a panto dame or an Ugly Sister; she is a woman and so you have to approach it as a straight actor. It cannot become camp. I don’t use a woman’s voice, I use my own and so the main challenge was to be feminine without becoming a man being camp.”

When I commented on the amount of dancing Edna has to do, especially in the finale numbers, Matt laughs again.

“I prefer to think of it as moving in a comic way,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “I am not a dancer by any stretch of the imagination!”

I asked Matt if he goes to the gym to keep fit?

“I’m of an age where I just feed off the kids’ energy. I’ve been asleep since Dublin!” he laughs! Matt is joined by Dudley-born comedian Norman Pace, who plays Edna’s husband, Wilbur. Their heart-felt duet, Timeless to Me, is a highlight of the production.”

“We think of it as the heart of the show,” says Matt. “They have to be a great couple because it explains why Tracy is so amazing.”

Watch out for a barrage of in-jokes and laughter as the pair adlib their way though it. It’s hilarious.

The choreography throughout the show is inventive, exactly what you would expect from one of the country’s most sought-after talents, Olivier award winner and nominee, Drew McOnie. Completely authentic, it will make you want to jump up and join in, while although the scenery on this touring version of the show is somewhat limited, it does offer a very clean and clear space in which to work – a dancer’s dream.

The climax of the show, You Can’t Stop the Beat should be renamed You Can’t Stop to Breathe because it is relentless, irrepressible and above all one of the most entertaining finale numbers in musical theatre today. Add to all of this a superb band under the instruction of Ben Atkinson and I defy you not to be up on your feet.

Hairspray is fantastic, frivolous fun and the dream of teenage girls the world over. The tunes will remain in your head for days and dancing all the way home is guaranteed! It’s the perfect Christmas present!

For tickets visit www.grandtheatre.co.uk or call 01902 429212.