“Hairspray” Coursework
In preparation for our theatre visit to see “Hairspray” we had to complete a number of activities and discussions in class. We talked about the cultural and historical context of the musical. The script used humour to highlight important issues such as racism and sizeism with songs and little sayings.
The play also highlighted that segregation that took place during the period of “1960”. This is the year that they play was based on. I went to watch the play on the 5th of November at the Shaftsbury Theatre in London. After watching the film and then watching the musical stage version of the same play I realised that the movie was more or less based on the story. However, the musical was based more around the music and not so much on the actual storyline. The plot of the was basically that there us a girl who wants to be one of the few perfect teenagers who sings and dances on the “Buddy” dance show in Boultimore but her size stands in the way. The story is about her fulfilling her dream.
The play that I watched was performed by a group of actors, dancers and singers. The central charecters were Tracy Turnblad, Edna Turnblad, Link Larkin, Velma Von Tussle, Amber Von Tussle, Motor Mouth Maybelle, Penny Pingleton, Seaweed J Stubbs and Corny Collins. The actors had to perform with a high level of energy and connection with the audience. In light of this the actor that I liked was the person that was playing Tracy Turnblad. This is because when she was on stage she was very energetic and connected to the audience.
The use of sound and music is integral to the performance and is a major contributing factor in building audience engagement heightening emotion and empathy. The music had a big effect on the audience. For instance it would get the audience to really get engaged in the performance. The music also got the audience to show emotion when a sad song would come on. The use of sound also helped the audience to show emotion. The...