• ヘアスプレー (Hairspray)

10/1/22 (Sat)

I figured this show would be impossible to stage in Japan since it has a female lead, which by itself makes most musicals a losing proposition here, and one at that who can sing, dance and dominate the show. What I didn’t count on was Watanabe Naomi, a highly likeable plus-sized comedienne who made her mark imitating dancing stars like Beyoncé. She is the only face on the poster for the show – the first time I can ever remember that for a big musical, which would usually put as many faces on the poster as possible whether relevant or not in order to sell even one extra ticket to the performers’ fans. So a lot was riding on her shoulders. This is her first stage show, meaning she’s going to be very physically tested over the multi-month run.

Happily she lived up to her billing and then some. She is a dynamo on stage. The dancing was clearly choreographed to her talents, which are more on the comedic dance side, and the songs, which are more pop than classic Broadway, gave her no problem. She is an engaging presence and was inevitably the center of attention whenever she appeared.

Yamaguchi Yuichiro went through the motions in the drag role of Edna but did not have star presence or a go-for-broke approach that would make up for it. He was competent, not much different from the film’s John Travolta. Link was fine but not really distinguishable from others on stage. He was oddly similar in looks and movement to Corny, who outshined him in every way. The rest of the cast was generally excellent, with special kudos to Penny, Wilbur and Seaweed.

The creators were apparently contractually forbidden to use makeup to distinguish the blacks from the whites, a separation that’s essential to the plot. A half-black performer played Pinky, Motormouth was played by a half-Brazilian singer who was different enough to “pass”, and Seaweed had a funky hairstyle that identified him more or less as black. Otherwise the show was visually all one shade – they’ve literally taken the color out of the black characters, meaning they would have to rely on stereotyped movements or speech patterns if they wanted to make the theme clear. The creative team didn’t seem to care about that, so the performers were left to fend for themselves. One answer could have been the choreography, especially since the entire story revolves around Tracy’s efforts to introduce black dancing to white audiences. Unfortunately the dances were all pretty much the same for all characters on both teams. The blacks have basically turned white. I doubt the point of tolerance got across at all to Japanese audiences, who were just there anyway to see Naomi or their other favorite performers. Political correctness has done the black community no favors. (The musical’s creators, who previously declared that actors of any race should be allowed to play any role in line with the show’s message of tolerance, apparently now require that roles be cast as appropriate to their race in the show. Obviously they made concessions for Japan. Let’s see if they make the same allowances for a Vermont or Montana production.)

Nevertheless, the cast had energy to spare and seemed to be having lots of fun, which was infectious. It’s hard to go wrong with this happy show. The choreography, though not particularly inventive, was lively, and the level of dance was quite high. The costumes were creative, topped by Edna’s outrageous dress at the television special. Whatever was lost in terms of a “message” was offset by the good cheer all around. This musical should last as long as Naomi is up for it.