Seattle reaction to "Hairspray"
 

Any reactions for Seattle Fodorites to Hairspray, it arrives in NY next month - worth seeing or not?

One of my colleagues just went and saw it and said it is fantastic! She laughed throught the whole production and highly recommended it!

My granddaugh went to what she thought was going to be Hairspray a month or so ago. Guess what, she went to see Hair and just about had a heart attack. Nudity and all. LOL funny

Huh? Nudity aside, Hairspray is a lot wilder than Hair!!!

I subscribe to the online theater promo service called theatermania.com (or something like that). Someone... either them or some other group who got my name, sent me a CD with songs from the show and a discount advance sale ticket offer for the NYC show ($55 mezz or orch). My daughter is a big, big musical theatre fan and has wide ranging musical tastes. She heard little on tyhe soundtrack that was appealing from a musical standpoint (I agreed but I'm not a musical theater fan so my viewpoint is less than valid on this). Just curious... does the context of the show add enough to the experience that the music and songs become more interesting or is it just so campy and crazy that it's fun regardless of the music?

ttt

I don't know anything about the show as I am in NY: but: the movie is one of my maybe five all-time favorite movies. I am assuming/hoping the show uses the same music as the movie, which is Dick Clark-era --"I really like the beat, Dick" -- real r&r.

Today's NY Times reports that the show got very favorable reviews in Seattle. <BR>We got orchestra seats for a little over $60 apiece (including Ticketmaster charges) via a special promotion. Call Ticketmaster (212-307-4100 or 800-755-4000) and give the code JHDK21. The offer is good for performances from July 18-September 22, except Saturday evenings. Tickets must be ordered by July 26. I would guess that sales will pick up after this morning's article in the Times!

Howard: I got the same offer, but can't get center orchestra seats for any dates both on discount or full price. Best have been extreme sides and I've been burned with poor sight lines too many times. I'm waiting for additional seats to be released. Where are your seats located?

Frank, I got row S, just off the aisle. I didn't expect 8th row center for that price...and they are better than the seats I had for The Producers early last year, and we could see fine for that one.

Howard: The price doesn't seem to matter, even at full price, virtually all center orchestra seats have been "iced". That's the thing I hate about Broadway, for $100 a seat it should be on a first come, first serve basis. We waited on the Producers, and ultimately saw it, with the new cast, but did get 4th row dead center. I guess we'll wait a few weeks and see if anything else opens up.

Frank, your strategy could be a good one. We bought tickets (at full price) a couple months ago for a July 2 performance of Oklahoma, when we couldn't get decent seats for performances at that time. The result: We have 7th or 8th row center orchestra!

We have Row D, center Orch first week in August. What is 'iced'? We just called up and got them. This is going to be a great show. One of the stars in Hairspray is Jackie Hoffman. She is a member of the Drama Department at the Greenwich St. Theater and I would see anything that she is in! Hysterical. She just did a show at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater and was in Kissing Jessica Stein. If you happen to see her listed for cabaret in any venue--go for it. We also just saw Endpapers (off-Broadway at the Variety Arts Theater) and The Man Who Had All The Luck (American Airlines Theater). Both were terrific and I feel comfortable recommending them as non-musical alternatives.

Oops. Forgot The Prince and the Pauper at the Lambs Theater. Great for kids! And a heads-up that Bernadette Peters will be starring in a revival of Gypsy this coming season. I would get tickets as soon as they go on sale.

Ellen: Consider yourself lucky. I've been checking online with Ticketmaster for 2 weeks and have yet to come up with center orchestra seats for any performance through November. That includes Monday and Tuesday evenings at full price. Only extreme side orchestra. When did you get your tickets? Did you use the discount?<BR><BR>P.S. Iced mean frozen or not for sale at this time.

Ticketmaster. Seats 6 & 8. Row D. Don't think we used the discount though, just ordered as soon as we saw the ad in the Times. My husband doesn't like to wait. He wants to get in there and see it before the reviews come out so he can form his own opinion. We save a lot of money on other shows by having subscriptions so it offsets paying full price for the broadway shows. However, I will ask him about the discount tonight. We get so much theater mail I can't keep up with the offers and just dump them on his desk.

Checked seating chart. Seats 6 & 8 are not center, my mistake. 3rd & 4th on the side. Still fine IMO. Not a huge theater. By the way, 2 other summer shows worth seeing - Ben Vereen and Judd Hirsch in Im Not Rappaport begins July 25th and Boys From Syracuse July 24th. Flower Drum Song in Sept! We are going to be busy! Keep the theater alive!

Howard: Just as I predicted, they are finally releasing better seats for Hairspray. I got 3rd row, 2 on the aisle, right orchestra at 50% discount. Not Bad. I'll let you know how we like it. How did you enjoy Oklahoma? We respected the production but thought it was a bit too long.

On the whole, Frank, we enjoyed Oklahoma. The dancing, as expected, was outstanding. Patrick Wilson was an excllent Curly, but we were unimpressed with the gal who played Laurey. You're right, it was a little long.<BR>When do you see Hairspray? We go a week from tomorrow.

Frank........I have seats for July 26 near the back of the mezz. With your note about better seats becoming available, do you think it is possible for an exchange? Note - I live in Rochester, NY and won't be in NYC until that weekend. Thanks!

Howard: Will see the show tomorrow, I'll report back.<BR><BR>Tom: I don't think you can exchange seats. They're sold on a no refund, no exchange basis.

I tried to get tickets with the code mentioned above, but it keeps sayig invalid promotion #. Please help!

Marybeth, two possible reasons for that message:<BR>1. The offer might have expired.<BR>2. The tickets available with that promotion might be all gone. (That happened to us once.)<BR>Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the offer any more to check the number.

Marybeth: Try code JHDM2, I just used it yesterday. Not good for Saturday Evenings, and only good for preformances through 9/22. Tickets must be ordered by 7/26. Good Luck.

Howard: We saw Hairspray last night and I think it will have a long run. Very enjoyable evening with great costumes and dancing, good score and scenery. A real feel good show, much like Mama Mia, but better in my opinion. Should appeal to a wide audience, those looking for 1960's kitch and those who actually remember the 60's.<BR><BR>My criticisms include the fact that the scenes seem like individual scenes and not a cohesive show, but this may be fine tuned in previews. Also the segregation theme seems a little heavy handed for such a light show.<BR><BR>All in all a very enjoyable show, the audience loved it, but I think the critics will give it a mixed review. Should have a long run. <BR><BR>Let me know what you think of it when you see it next week.

Thanks, Frank. It's not often that I have the luxury of a private reviewing service! I'll post my reaction next week.

In a word, great! My wife and I really enjoyed it. In fact, we enjoyed it as much as The Producers! A real happy, fun show with an incredibly talented cast. You've got to love Harvey Fierstein, and Marissa Jaret Winokur is a real find in the central role of Tracy.<BR>From the moment the orchestra struck up the first note, the audience was cheering. And, at the end, the entire audience rose up as one for a spontaneous standing ovation.<BR>The segregation/integration issue didn't bother us. As a faithful adaption of the movie, it had be included and was handled with great humor.<BR>Get seats now, because once it opens on August 15, it'll really be a tough ticket.

Howard: Glad to hear you enjoyed the show as much as you did, seems likely to be a big hit, much in the same vein as the Producers. It's great to see that kind of show on half price tickets. I guess in this case it paid to jump on the bandwagon early.

Frank, I'm sure you'll agree that it'll be quite a while before the next time that there will be discount tickets available for Hairspray!