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salem community theatre Acting is divine in ‘Hairspray’
By David L. MUNNELL
SALEM
I believe there are few people left in this country who don’t know what “Hairspray” is. It originally was a John Waters film in the 1980s with Ricki Lake as the lead and is still considered a cult classic. Then, in 2002, the film got the Broadway treatment, taking the racial themes offered in the movie to a whole new level while still being a quirky and upbeat musical romp.
“Hairspray” follows the life of curvaceous Tracy Turnblad, played by Morgan Zamarelli, as she tries to get on 1960s Baltimore’s No. 1 cable-access teen dance show, “The Corny Collins Show.” Tracy’s journey to local stardom takes many turns, but the message of “it’s okay to be different” is prevalent throughout the show with a heavy emphasis on segregation prevalent during the time period.
Salem Community Theatre’s production is a mixed bag. Most of the performances to be had on the stage are fantastic to watch. For instance, Tyler Stouffer’s role as Edna Turnblad is comic gold, and his chemistry with Jeff Cornfield as husband Wilbur Turnblad is one of the most endearing relationships in the show.
Also exploding onto the stage is the outstanding Seaweed Stubbs, played by William Tipton, and the obnoxiously bratty Amber Von Tussle, played by Rachel Ruggieri, whom you just love to hate as she tries to stop Tracy’s rise to local fame. Special mention to Jenna Cintavey, as the gym teacher/matron, who could take her bit characters and create a whole show dedicated to them, and I would absolutely die from laughter.
Unfortunately, despite what the actors do to make this a memorable performance, the direction and technical aspects of the show destroy the entire experience.
I was ready to leave halfway through Act I; they were that bad.
I’ll begin with the direction, or lack thereof. Blatant nepotism aside, director John Zamarelli seems to be content with placing whomever is speaking straight down center stage and planting the chorus in a picket-fence line behind them.
Literally every scene is alike, and it reeks of amateurism I’d expect to see on a high-school cafetorium stage. SCT would be wise to explore other options for future directors.
And finally, the production team should fire the people running the light and sound cues and hire a monkey, because a monkey could do a better job.
On opening night, I expect a couple of technical hiccups here and there, but missed light cues and skipped light cues abounded throughout the entire evening, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
Luckily, the show is written well enough and the performers do the best they can with the atrocious direction that at the end of the day, the audience still will be left grinning and dancing in their seats.
“Hairspray” at Salem Community Theatre runs today at 2 p.m. and next weekend at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 330-332-9688.