David Kilper | WUSTL

Promo for the Performing Arts Department’s production of the Broadway hit, “Hairspray.” Directed by Ron Himes ID’s: Jeffery Matthews as “Wilbur Turnblad,” Johanna Elkana-Hale as “Tracy Turnblad,” Zachary Allen Farmer as “Edna Turnblad.”

As its final musical moment will have you believe, “Hairspray” is a musical about the celebration of equality in Baltimore in the early 1960s. It’s supposed to be a happy triumph for the underrepresented in society, the ones who have always fallen through the cracks because of their size, skin color or some other factor that shouldn’t matter but still does. Unfortunately, it was hard to feel the celebration in the Performing Arts Department’s production of “Hairspray” because, well, I couldn’t quite hear it.

During my show, the sound was just off—sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally. During “Run and Tell That,” Seaweed’s supposed-to-be-showstopping number, Seaweed’s microphone was turned down so low that you could barely hear senior Ari Scott over the band, and poor Little Inez’s (senior Desiree Thomas) only major solo was silenced. Ensemble members were given singing lines during the Act Two opener “The Big Dollhouse,” but they were not given microphones. Why bother giving a performer a moment to shine if no one is going to hear them?

This isn’t to say “Hairspray” lacked marvelous moments, and the musical in fact had quite a few of them. “Hairspray” centers on Tracy Turnblad (Johanna Elkana-Hale), a heavy-set teenager who lives in 1962 Baltimore. She has two dreams: to dance on “American Bandstand” clone The Corny Collins Show and to marry its beautiful star, Link Larkin (junior Pete Winfrey). Her mischievous exploits land her in detention where she meets Seaweed, the son of Motormouth Maybelle (senior Diamond Skinner), Corny’s co-host on the once-monthly “Negro Day.” Eventually the show turns into not just Tracy’s dream fulfillment but a stand-in for the entire civil rights movement. The story is a bit over the top, but the fun songs make up for it.

The PAD co-sponsored this production with the Black Rep, which means that the cast is not fully comprised of Wash. U. students. This sometimes looks awkward on stage, like in “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now” when one portrayer is the appropriate age, one seems to be about 30, and one is a student here. It also means that the outsourced actors are wonderful in their roles. Zachary Allen Farmer plays the role of Edna, Tracy’s mom, with just the right amount of humor, making you forget that he’s actually a man in a dress.

The student cast performed admirably, as well. Standouts include Pete Winfrey’s Link and Skinner’s Maybelle. Winfrey played the role of a wannabe Elvis with ease, skulking across stage in an oh-so-dreamy way. His crooning during the written-for-Zac-Efron “It Takes Two” didn’t hurt, either. As the wise civil rights activist mother-figure, the role of Motormouth Maybelle carries particular weight, but Skinner understood the emotion behind her role perfectly. Her call-and-response gospel shouts during “I Know Where I’ve Been” might have been the best vocal performance of the night.

The stage put the audience in just the right mindset. The civil rights collage at the back of the stage set up the historical context, but the floor designs and string of lights dividing the stage in two provided just the right amount of whimsy.

All in all, “Hairspray” was a fun show. It was well-cast and well-acted, though the cast seemed to lack energy. Whether or not that was due to the cast or to the fact that I couldn’t really hear them sing, I can’t tell you. Hopefully the sound problems were just due to opening weekend jitters and the show will be in full form by the time parents see it this weekend.