Hairspray’s lead character, Tracy Turnblad, is played by Laurie Scarth, whose previous credits include Grease and High School Musical. Her love interest, The Corny Collins Show’ss Link Larkin, is played by Liam Doyle, who was “discovered” by GMTV in their “Search for Troy” competition back in 2009. He made his debut playing Troy Bolton on London’s West End.

The lead characters, supporting singers and dancers performed incredibly, especially considering it was opening night in Wolverhampton. I didn’t notice a single mistake or wrong note. ‘Tracy’ and ‘Link’ both have incredible vocals and obviously love their roles, they were brilliant. I must also mention great performances by side kicks, Penn, played by Emma Dukes, who had fantastic comic timing, and Seaweed, played by Wayne Robinson, whose dancing and singing were fabulous.

Undoubtedly the highlight of the show was the Act 2 duo, “Without Love”, between Edna and Wilbur, played by Brian Conley and Les Dennis. The comedy duo had fantastic chemistry, their performance had the audience laughing until they cried, well done to them for keeping a straight face, it can’t have been easy!

The show’s fantastic vocals were complemented by Jerry Mitchell’s great choreography which was performed in perfect sync by the well rehearsed cast. David Rockwell’s imaginative set design saw the show open to Tracy belting out “Good Morning Boltimore” from an enormous upright bed. And Hairspray wouldn’t be complete without the clothes and ‘dos’ – William Ivey-Long’s gorgeous costumes and Paul Huntleys wig’s captured the fantastic fashions of the 60’s and theme for the show perfectly.

The show is on at Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre until 19 June, then it continues its tour of the UK and Ireland through 2010. A full list of dates and locations is available at www.hairspraythetour.com. A thumbs up from me and standing ovation from the audience say it all – definitely worth a watch!

Reviewer Jessica Richardson
Reviewed at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre