Hairspray The Musical review: HAMA Productions show at Crown Theatre Perth worth the wait

Big on heart, hair and humour, Hairspray The Musical is musical theatre at its feel-good best, packed with a positive message, catchy tunes and oodles of laughs. The HAMA Productions season marks the first time the multiple Tony Award-winning Broadway musical — based on the John Waters’ 1988 film of the same name — has been professionally staged in Perth. It was worth the wait. In the incredibly capable hands of director Vincent Hooper and musical director Harry Oliff, the show is a 60s dance extravaganza with choreography by Thern Reynolds and a creative set design by Matthew McVeigh bursting with colour. Hopefully some minor audio issues experienced with the microphones on Sunday’s opening night are rectified for the rest of the season. Stepping back in time to 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, Hairspray The Musical introduces Crown Theatre Perth audiences to Tracy Turnblad, a plucky teen who dreams to one day dance on TV program, The Corny Collins Show. Not only does she turn that dream into a reality, becoming a local celebrity overnight, but her tenacity in the face of discrimination results in crucial social change. WA Academy of Performing Arts graduate Paige Fallu is a rising star in her lead role debut as Tracy, while Better Homes and Gardens builder and Telethon favourite Rob Palmer is a man of many hidden talents as her mother Edna. Rounding out the Turnblad family unit is Brendan Hanson as Edna’s endearing husband and Tracy’s doting dad Wilbur, Hanson’s professionalism tested while desperately trying to resist corpsing during the playful (You’re) Timeless To Me with Palmer. Chelsea Plumley as highly prejudiced TV show producer Velma Von Tussle, and Elaina O’Connor as her daughter Amber, play the musical’s antagonists to perfection, alongside a crooning John Rex Berry as swoon worthy Link. The powerfully soulful Paula Parore as Motormouth Maybelle truly delivers during Big, Blonde and Beautiful and I Know Where I’ve Been, with Joshua Firman’s Corny Collins the TV host with the most (hair), excelling during the toe-tapping The Nicest Kids in Town. The production is a hit machine from show opener Good Morning Baltimore, rebellious Mama, I’m A Big Girl Now and entertainingly executed I Can Hear The Bells, to the dastardly (The Legend Of) Miss Baltimore Crabs and cheerful Welcome To The 60s. Moving your feet to finale You Can’t Stop The Beat is unavoidable, the show’s ending a dance-inducing party that wholeheartedly embraces live performance’s ability to whisk audiences away for a couple of hours. It is well worth letting yourself be transported back to the 1960s for this swell time. 4 stars Hairspray The Musical is at Crown Theatre Perth until September 28.