By Kieran Wyatt (Grand Young Blogger)

An infectious musical is a brilliant experience; a musical with great tunes can get you through any day. Hairspray is rarely discussed in the great cannon of musical theatre or films of musicals. The Sound of Music always comes up every time and even once daring pictures like The Rocky Horror Picture Show are now considered musicals which have stood and will continue to stand the test of that old friend, time.

Hairspray is a great musical for several different reasons. One of the most important reasons are the cool and popping collection of songs. I remember first being shown Hairspray at the tentative age of ten. I really am that young, apologies. Anyway, at ten years old I distinctively remember bouncing around the living room to the sound of “Run and Tell That” and “You Can’t Stop the Beat”, there was a moment where I nearly crashed into the television, which at that time was still a TV with about five feet of cream plastic stuck to the back. Thankfully, the telly was saved and it was only my toe which was severely stubbed by a brownish pouffe to the side of the coffee table, which never held any coffee at all. Needless to say my toe was red and slightly twisted, ever since I’ve had a minutely warped little toe. That was a lie but, it felt like my toe had fallen off.  It’s not a great pain. It’s a pain.

The important point is that my nimble, dancing body didn’t stop the groove because of the aforementioned injury; I simply brushed away the pain, slightly biting my tongue, and continued the dance. I paused when the “I Know Where I’ve Been” sequenced began, a emotional if slightly overdone musical number featuring a picket and plot points I don’t want to spoil here. Slightly overdone worked in my ten year old brain and I sat down to watch as the film continued.

Hairspray centres around big hair, dance moves and the start of the Civil Rights Movement in America. Pouffes aren’t a large part of my life but, as a ten/eleven year old I starkly recall the brown one in our living room. The two pouffe-related memories of my childhood: stubbing my toe whilst grooving to Hairspray and one year later sitting cross legged on the pouffe watching the inauguration of Barack Obama in 2008. What I’m trying to say is – pouffes, they stay with you.

Blackpool and Fylde Light Opera Company present

Hairspray

Grand Theatre, Blackpool

Tuesday 19 to Saturday 23 May 2015