Smells like Hairspray in the air

Musical review
Marius Nicolescu
April 20, 2010

 

Hairspray by Sylvia Zareva

Photo courtesy of Sylvia Zareva

When a person gets to see his friends in a university production, expectations tend to diminish and people tend to become much more appreciative towards it. This is not such kind of a review. I have been bashing movies for defacto for a while, writing about their good points and weaknesses, and I will not treat Hairspray otherwise. I will be as objective as possible, since I paid money to view this almost-successful production.

Therefore, economically speaking let's see if the price to entertainment ratio is at least decent. It looks like it and I believe it was worth paying 10 leva to see this performance for a variety of reasons.

Compared to the previous musical, the singing in this one was good, except for one or two songs that were off key, which I guess is a major step after the utter disappointment that West Side Story proved to be. The décor was almost non-existent, but the costumes and the dances made up for it. The brightly colored performers owned the stage, and it was the first time I saw a perfectly synchronized dance performed at AUBG.

On the downside, the tempo was a bit too rapid at times, different types of English accents making much of the acting part a bit hard to follow. A bit more acting and voice tone and tempo coaching would have been needed for this part to truly succeed.

The story is simple and well-written: In the midst of the 60s a bold, slightly over-proportioned teenager by the name of Tracy Turnblad (Anna Alexeeva) dares to audition for a show where only the perfectly-poised, skinny cute girls are allowed in, and succeed. On the other side, a colorful black community is trying to mix with the rest of the crowd, regardless of all impediments. What ensues is a collage of music, dance and funny moments that make Hairspray quite enjoyable.

Velma Von Tussle (Violeta Vasiliu) plays the mother of one of the girls on the Colbie Collins (Todor Mitov) Show, and is one of the very good singers in the show. Vasiliu's posture is always perfect and her acting abilities are impressive. She went beyond the character and managed to submerge the audience deep inside her character.

The best singer in the entire show was, by far, Teodora Toneva, in the role of Motormouth Maybelle, who had an equally astounding act in the AUBG production of the musical Chicago (2008).

Edna Turnblad, Tracy's mother, played by Smajo Bajramspahic was the funniest character in the entire play, producers inspired from the 2007 adaptation of John Travolta, and making it work very well. Apparently, transvestites are popular once again, and Smajo manages to perfect this technique.

Unfortunately, Penny Pingleton (Anna Ponomarjova) and Corny Collins (Todor Mitov) together with Wilbur Turnblad (Kiryl Faminou) were half-decent performances, who needed a tad more practice. A bit more courage on stage, and a bit more charisma would have helped all three of them.

Seaweed, the perpetually happy and in love "Negro," played by Singing and Acting Director Georgi Ian Petrov, proved to be an major disappointment in terms of singing, pretty much the only time during the play when I really wanted a song to end.

Overall, a very good performance which could have been better but reached its target anyway. It paves the way for more such artistic endeavors to happen at AUBG. I can only hope that next year they'll chose something more close to Europe and our way of seeing things, say Mamma Mia?

Comments

Just butting in

@random unknown person: it would be nice to get your facts straight dear sir; the total budget did not exceed 19k although that's non of your business, and where the money went and how many of it was sponsorship and not is the work of the musical organizers and the AUBG administration. If you need personal clarification, you are free to ask. On the choice of musical: If you have what it takes to orginize it, please choose a title and go for it. Until then, what the people, that do have what it takes to do it, chose shall be what is done. If you don't like it, don't go; Simple as that. We've explained numerous times what is involved in the picking of a musical and perhaps one day, someone will listen. @Marius: Being the most heavily criticized person in the article, I take no offense, so no need to look at the ground when you pass me by in the choridors ;). If you viewed the first performance, I had no voice and my singing was poor. Also, we were yet to synchronize with the gear. If you viewed another, I think I was alright, but than again it's your right to have an opinion. On the article: I did not like it. The gramatical errors are normal, seeing as how defacto lacks a copy editor, so no big deal. On reviewing, people who do reviews in the world are extremely involved in what they review, so some expertise is required. On copying we are actually very proud to have originated many of the aspects of this year's musical, but than again we DO have a contract and we ARE obliged to follow a certain script and procedures. On people's performance, I believe your judgement as incorrect, but that's my own opinion. On your total evaluation, it's a bit inconsistent to criticize so heavily and than say it was a good performance. Otherwise, cheers and thanks for the attention. I don't know about Mamma Mia though, it's kinda lame. C ya (Joro, the infamous guilty director)
Submitted by Anonymous on April 27, 2010 - 22:31.

Considering the cumulative

Considering the cumulative ratio (AUBG help/Out-side Sponsors) < 5%, the guys did a great job - and everybody actually enjoyed it. And for the price of 5 beers less per semester it was totally worth it. Plus DO not attribute the quality of singing to your overall experience - equipment is Expensive to rent in this country, especially when going for a National Tour! Good job, Rafa! Panici Al.
Submitted by Anonymous on April 25, 2010 - 22:34.

First of all, MHer, reveal

First of all, MHer, reveal yourself. i'm not saying you're acting on behalf of the Academy, but you're kinda close to it.i don't think you should do it, we should all speak for ourselves, especially when you're criticizing smth or smbdy. and actually, anonymity sucks in general... and about their budget - no way you can evaluate their budget without seeing it close. Second, Marius, I don't think you're enough of a musical expert to judge on voices, designer to judge on the costumes, and director to judge on the decency of certain actors. it is unclear to me, since i'm not a jmcer, whether "review" and "opinion piece" is the same, and how much of personal judgment you're allowed to include in each of them, but that looked a lot more like "almost successful" in being objective piece. i dare to say that there was a big deal of conflict of interest in it. i think i wouldn't like it even if you only included good words about the musical. i don't think it should have been you writing about it. i don't try to offend you, hope you understand. Seva
Submitted by Anonymous on April 21, 2010 - 15:59.

changes

Seva, Thank you for writing your name and not being anonymous, as most of the people here are. I agree with you - I am not a musical expert a designer or director. However, most critics in this world aren't either. All movie critics, writing for the New York Times for example are NOT directors or actors or have they ever been. Most fashion critics aren't either. I am allowed to judge, because I have a medium where to judge - you can judge my article, although you are not a professional journalist. This is not all about being a major expert in what you talk about, that comes with time. I believe I have been as close to the truth as possible in my review, and I apologize if I have offended any member of the cast - I have nothing against you, I have commented on your performance alone, and that was all. Seva, if we work on the "conflict of interest" issue, nobody at AUBG is qualified to make any judgment about the musical - why? Because we all know at least one person in the cast. Just name one person who would be entirely up to doing without any conflict of interest. Last, what I want to reiterate to the cast of the musical is that you will never have a public that will say you were perfect - not even the most successful productions on Broadway have that - just try to improve next time, and instead of spending time trying to argue with every single person who has a problem with it, try seeing why that person has a problem with it. All the best, Marius
Submitted by Anonymous on April 21, 2010 - 20:53.

MHer

First of all-good article, but you've just put your neck on the line. The cast will try to kill you, as they attempted with the reviewer last year. And there was lots more to bitch about last year. :))))))

But you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! This performance you pay for, so it must be really damn PROFESSIONAL! Cause it costs like a professional one.

Really good choreography mind you! Congrats to whomever did that. Some of the singing-really good also.

However the question really is, with a 50 000 budget, compared to the 500 or less of other AUBG stuff....why couldn't they afford sets? I am in MH and can tell you that cost of halls is not more than 1-2000 leva...so even if they paid.. say a 10 000 for rent, another 10 000 for lighting and audio( which is ridiculous and unrealistically too much)..and another 10 000 for costumes( as they could not use cheaper rented ones, as the rest of the world does)...well...10+10+10 is not =50!!! Interesting? :))

Where’s the missing 20 000 from this calculation? And don't bitch against me with the fact they were from sponsorships. You are asking for money on behalf of AUBG, so it belongs to AUBG, not the musical as a separate thing. Its is just another activity in the university and not a separate production studio or smth. Or is it? Is it a "for profit" organization you make me wonder???

And I don't mean to be a critique of your writing reviewer, but why no mention of the fact that the entire show is copied again off a movie? For gods sake people, don't you have ideas? That's what designers, directors etc. are for, to come up with new things. Seriously, copying John Travolta? Mind you the guy you used was good and funny, but was COPIED!!! Plus this transvestite thing was done before in theater here, so its not new even for AUBG.

And one final thing, if you insist on spending AUBGs funding and sponsorships/ yes, they could've went into building the new sports hall for example/ at least make deamn sure that you do an amazing once-in-a life -time thing without any excuses. Dont just do a PR thing as you did this time. (although AUBG obviously needs it). Choose a musical that is interesting to the entire community( there are lots of non-girly, soapy ones out there) or one that will attract not just family members and ex-students in the other cities. So it could really be written off in the budgets as a an expensive PR attempt..... :)

Ajde, go for your next musical with peace. And try to be more original, less expensive and not bitchy to critics. :)))))

Submitted by Anonymous on April 20, 2010 - 13:11.

To the MHER

You sir, are an idiot. Or rather, a moron.
Submitted by Anonymous on April 24, 2010 - 16:19.

to MHer

Dear MHer, I have no idea who you are, but as Seva said, use your real name next time. Do not speak on behalf of the whole academy. Regards, Ivan Botev
Submitted by Anonymous on April 26, 2010 - 21:22.

Dear Botev, I am happy you

Dear Botev, I am happy you are in the condition and mood to be roaming the Internet. I am expecting you home shortly. Love and kisses, Vanio
Submitted by Anonymous on April 27, 2010 - 21:28.

To MHer

@ MHer, make sure you use your real name next time!!! @ Hairspray guys, awesome show! Masha
Submitted by Anonymous on April 27, 2010 - 20:43.

JMC Rocks?

Dear Marius, I think you need to retake Info Skills I, since you have so many mistakes in your article. Also, when you are writing critical review for a play, you cannot skip the main characters like Anna Alexeeva, who played the leading role. Not to mention the other supporting roles that you decided to exclude from your "critical" review.
Submitted by Anonymous on April 20, 2010 - 01:43.

Don't use names that don't belong to you

Can both the MHer, and the "JMC Rocks" character use other names and stop pulling into ridiculous online fights organizations like More Honors and JMC Rocks. I understand that none of you have the balls to use real names, but please, dont shed shame on people who work hard to make a reputation for shows that require a lot of work. Just... think, or at least try to.
Submitted by Anonymous on April 27, 2010 - 21:18.

Cast members stop being offended - you can't be perfect

Dear whoever, Please tell me what are the mistakes and I shall fix them if they grammatical errors. I am sorry if you are one of those supporting roles people and you got offended I did not mention you. I cannot name every member of the cast, also I have mentioned Alexeeva. "over-proportioned teenager by the name of Tracy Turnblad (Anna Alexeeva) dares to audition for a show where only the perfectly-poised, skinny cute girls are allowed in, and succeed. On the other side, a colorful black community is trying to mix with the rest of the crowd, regardless of all impediments. What ensues is a collage of music, dance and funny moments that make Hairspray quite enjoyable." My review is my opinion on this, I am sorry if some cast remembers feel offended, that is not my business. All the best, M.
Submitted by Anonymous on April 20, 2010 - 19:24.