hairspray

while whole last was a blah, the weekend was a blast! thanks to the wonderful hairspray. liezl, cath, zel plus tizia and i trooped to the star theater in ccp complex to see the staging of this 1988 film, which was turned into a stage musical and then turned into a movie again in 2007, starring john travolta, michelle pfeiffer, zac efron and nikki blonsky.

true to most reviews i've read, hairspray manila was really good. it was fun, high-energy, beautifully-acted and well sung - just another testament to pinoy's megawatt talent! apart from the high strung set design and stage lighting, what really carried the musical is the ensemble. it'll take a lot talent and discipline to be able to carry out all those singing while also doing all those calisthenics. madel ching, who played the lead character tracy turnblad was a literally a ball of sugar (taas ng energy!!!), very competent singer and has the right comic timing as well. link larkin (tim espinosa) wasn't the best singer, but he made up for this with superb dancing. nyoy volante was ok, but his voice somewhat loses its touch when the chorus joins in, maybe because of his pop-ish style. menchu lauchengco was also very good, although her velma von tussle did not shine as what i would've expected, similar to the film version. michael de mesa, as edna turnblad was superb! he nailed that drag role as if the role was written for him. but i think the showstopper was really dulce. since she's one of the country's top belters, she didn't have any problems soaring to high notes and wallowing the whole theater with her soulful rendition of "i know where i've been". even more outstanding, her low notes are fantastic! overall, it was really a good one, enjoyable to the last song number, makes you celebrate your own imperfections.

but of course, we haven't paid cath yet... thanks cath! next show please...