Theatre Review: Hairspray at The Bristol Hippodrome

Photography by Pamela Raith

Summary

Rating: ★★★★★
Running Dates: Monday 24th February - Saturday 1st March 2025
Where to see it: Bristol Hippodrome
Duration: 2 hr 35 min (incl. interval)
Keywords: Segregation, Racism, Hope, Community

Review

The ultimate story of how feeling involved with your community is the centre to society.

Let’s throw it back to the 1960s Baltimore where Hairspray is set, Tracy Turnblad is a highly ambitious teen but doesn’t quite fit the stereotypical mold of what it takes to be dancing on the Corny Collins Show.

*Spoiler*

When she finally makes her big break becoming an overnight sensation, she uses her popularity to fight for racial equality for her new-found community.

Photography by Pamela Raith

From start to finish, the production was amazing, the bright colours, big hair and bold tunes made an engaging watch. This musical made me feel alive and part of the show. The equal combination of the societal issues combined with the glitz and glam of the era, and flowing backdrop made it easy to follow the storyline, even if you didn’t know what Hairspray was about before.

And the main highlight…

The cast were nothing short of brilliant, every single one played into their character wholeheartedly. You could tell they were having just as much fun as we were. Tracy, played by Katie Brace, has got a huge spark for life, an incredible voice and her fun goofy side adds to her character being all a bit chaotic – it wouldn’t be the same any other way.

I absolutely loved Neil Hurst as Edna (Tracy’s mum), with the fast costume changes, hilarious innuendos which made him break character a few times, and fabulous acting, he had our tummies in stitches!

This is potentially the best musical I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something! It was hard to not be up dancing by end, which was highly encouraged.

I’d strongly recommend this musical to everyone!

See If: You want an evening of guaranteed fun whilst having your eyes opened to what it was truly like in the 60s.
Last Impressions: Stand up for yourself even if you stand up alone, your community will follow.

You can find last minute tickets for the show on the ATG website.

We were kindly gifted these tickets in exchange for a review.

Written by Tamara Lawrence