Academy’s ‘Hairspray’ has too many actors, too few roles

I enjoyed just about every minute of Las Vegas Academy’s "Hairspray," and yet there was something bugging me the whole way through.

The plot and score combine for a funny bit of pastiche that takes us back to the segregation days of 1962 Baltimore. White, heavy-set teen Tracy (played by Kayleigh Wright at Friday’s performance; some major roles are double and triple cast) not only wants to be a glamorous singer and dancer on a popular local TV show, she also wants her black friends to share the stage. She, her friends and a couple of mothers all wind up in jail as the result. But, this being musical comedy land, everyone puts their differences aside by evening’s end for a rousing finale.

Director Robert Connor finds the right tone for this inspired nonsense. Choreographer Tammy Pessagno infuses the show with self-mocking movement that enhances the comedy.

The problem at the show I saw was that too many lead characters didn’t seem to yet have the confidence to command the stage. Robert Riordan, for example, played Edna, Tracy’s mother (a part traditionally portrayed by a male). It’s a star role full of memorable comic bits. Riordan is likable but barely makes an impression.

Wright is amusing as Tracy but lacks sparkle.

Most of my objections to the casting have to do with the roles that were double and triple cast, and it makes me wonder if maybe these actors just didn’t get enough rehearsal time to make the roles their own.

As Edna’s slim, short, bouncy husband Wilbur, Elijah Duncan O’Connell provides the one genuinely show-stopping moment. He purrs a love duet with such enthusiasm, lightness and fancy footwork that you can’t help but want to pet him. He gives the number a vaudeville feel that elevates the material.

The 67-member cast, the 49-member orchestra and the nine pit singers often offer overwhelming power. It’s easy to admire the sheer bigness of the enterprise. Yet, the bigness never gets in the way of the enjoyably slight story.

But the performance I witnessed begs the question: Does the academy have the staff to give multiple actors in single roles the guidance they all deserve?

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheaterchat @aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.