Last Saturday, I saw a Puertorrican production of Broadway’s hit musical ‘Hairspray’, translated to my native spanish tongue. Being the musical theatre freak I am, I felt like I had to see it, but found myself initially weary of the quality of the translation, as well as of the quality of the piece in general. Luckily, I decided to get those worries out of the way and enjoy a casual night of theatre with a few like-minded friends. Expectations left at the door, I prepared myself to judge the piece using a constructive approach. What did I think of it? Read on.
Program for the Puertorrican production of 'Hairspray'.
Previous to it, I’d never seen anything relating ‘Hairspray’ outside of some billboards on Times Square when I went to New York last summer and a trailer for the film adaptation of the same name. I thought to myself “hey, it’ll be great to experience the story for the very first time on the stage, where it was intended to be experienced”. Well, it was indeed a great opportunity to fall in love with the story right out of the bat…that is, until a rough combination of lack of decent diction from the majority of the actors and sound balancing problems ruined it for me.
To be fair, I did understand the main line of the story, yet I missed tons of details here and there (mainly during the musical numbers). Details that could’ve helped flesh out character development, revealed thematic nuances in the story, give way to funny situations or pinpoint clever lines of dialogue. From the little that I got, translation was handled well, yet I hope I could’ve understood all of it and give a proper critique to it. Instead, I had to work with what was given to me, which was pretty much unintelligible to begin with. Directors: diction is key for the audience to fully enjoy your play or musical. Without it, they won’t get involved as easily as it should be, and it should be easy.
Broadway production of Hairspray.
The other thing I missed was energy; I mean, where was it? To feel realistic and involving, theatre depends on the energy its protagonists are able to convey on the stage. If there’s an apparent lack of energy from the cast, the audience will get the message: “if it isn’t as important to them, it should not be for us as well”. You lose the audience quickly without it. I missed the energy of, say, the cast of ‘In the Heights’…an ensemble so into it, you just had to stand and applaud in appreciation of their motivational work. I didn’t feel that with this production of ‘Hairspray’.
Oh, and don’t even think to say to me: “you’re contaminated”. I’m comparing this to a Broadway piece, yes, but that’s because I know it can be as good, or better. Theatre doesn’t need high sums of money…it needs dedication, and oomph. It needs to feel alive. Set design was bare, yet the few pieces they had were functional and did their work. Lighting design, however, wasn’t to my liking: it looked like the lighting designer wasn’t trying to highlight characters instead of focusing on the larger picture. A miss, in my opinion.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “you ended up hating it, right?” Nah. I was just heavily dissapointed with all those points stated above, but by no chance they were enough for me to proclaim this production a “disaster”. It definitely worked. As the local newspaper wrote the following day in its review, “Pasó la prueba”. It passed the test.
Puertorrican production of 'Hairspray'.
Acting-wise, there were some standout performances: Junior Alvarez as “Edna Turnblad” was fantastic; Linnette Torres as the villain “Velma Von Tussle” was not only on-point, but a few steps above; Ektor Rivera as “Seaweed Stubbs” was the most energetic of the bunch, and it worked wonders for his interpretation of that lively character; and Nelson Del Valle was convincing as “Corny Collins”. The rest of the cast ranged from “good” to “mediocre”, but they all worked in their roles. And coreography-wise, it looked very good, too: this was definitely my favorite aspect of it, with dance numbers looking energetic while being synchronized.
Suffice to say, I think there’s enormous room for improvement. Puerto Rico’s theatre scene is starving for productions, and anything that gets produced is a good thing. But let’s not stop there: we can be more than good. We can be fucking great. The following day, I attended an opera…and it was ”fucking great”.
It can be done.
As a last note, why spend months and months of practice and production design work…for only a weekend of showings? All the shows were filled to capacity in the 1,875-seat Antonio Paoli Hall during those three nights. It’d make more sense to present more showings in a smaller venue (think two-to-three weekends). Give people from all over the island a chance to see this. Take note, theatre producers!
Thanks for reading. : )
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