Hairspray

The Alhambra

The year is 1962 and downtown Baltimore is waking up to a new dawn.

“Integration, not segregation” is the mantra of the placard-wavers, battling to establish racial harmony. Tracy Turnblad, a teenage girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, is one of them.

In Hairspray, a lively show set against the civil rights movement, Tracy dreams of dancing on TV’s Corny Collins Show. When she’s talent-spotted on air, she’s transformed from chubby outsider to teen celebrity.

Beneath the cheery, bubble-gum veneer of the Corny Collins Show lies an uncomfortable reminder of the times, with black youngsters forced to dance at the back when the cameras roll. When her passion for dance turns her into a high profile trendsetter, Tracy speaks out for racial integration – and along the way battles to win the heart of hunky Link Larkin and get her reclusive mother out of her kitchen and into the Sixties.

This show has heart, thanks to a terrific cast. Newcomer Freya Sutton lit up the stage as Tracy, brimming with optimism, and Mark Benton brought endearing vulnerability to her larger-than-life mom, Edna, playing it for laughs in slingbacks and a wig, but with a sweet shyness.

Lucy Benjamin gave a scene-stealing performance, revealing a gift for physical comedy as Velma Von Tussle, the monstrous mother scheming to get her obnoxious daughter crowned Miss Hairspray.

Great performances too from Sandra Marvin, who has a voice to die for as Motormouth Maybelle, Gemma Sutton as spoilt Amber Von Tussle and Lauren Hood as gawky Penny Pingleton.

It was a shame X Factor finalist Marcus Collins was too ill to perform, but Fela Lufadeju delivered a strong performance as Seaweed J Stubbs.

With effective staging, particularly the TV show action moving around the Turnblads’ modest home, and a rousing finale to You Can’t Stop the Beat, this show is a big-hearted must-see.

Runs until March 23.