Hairspray

Last night my mom and I went to see Hairspray at the Orpheum. I don't really prefer to hang out with my mom, but every now and then we go out and it's kind of nice. We just don't normally get along very well, so I try to avoid seeing her, but last night was fun. First we went to eat dinner at Big Foot Lodge. I don't know if you've ver been there, but they are famous for their 5 pound burger. Only one person has ever eaten it and they were a professional eater. The rules are that you have to finish the entire burger with all the dressings in 60 minutes. Well while we were there, someone ordered it. I walked over to see exactly how big it was and that thing was ridiculous! It looked like a cake! The bun was bigger than my head. How anyone could ever eat that is beyond me. I used to work at Cheeburger Cheeburger and we were famous for our one pound burger. Well I ate that one time and I just barely finished it....I can't imagine trying to eat a 5 pound burger!!! crazy!! I don't know if he finished it, we left before then.

After we ate dinner we headed down to the orpheum to see Hairspray. I love going to the Orpheum. It's so fancy and fun. It's like you're in New York going to Broadway. In fact, the Orpheum is a lot nicer than a lot of theatres on Broadway...so it's really fun. I saw the movie Hairspray when it came out in the summer, so I was super excited to come see the show. If you've never seen the show you're truly missing out. It's set in 1962 in Baltimore. The main character is Tracy Turnblad, an overweight teen whose dream is to be on the Corny Collins Show, which is about the equivalent to what our American Bandstand was. After she gets on the show, she makes it her mission to make "Negro day" everyday. This of course was in a time when many things were segregated. It's a great show because it covers the issues of segregation and racism but in a lighter, more fun tone. It's not heavy or sad...just lighthearted fun. Through the course of the show Tracy falls in love with the main male dancer Link Larken. Tracy's best friend Penny also falls in love, but with Seaweed, a black guy. Of course Penny is my favorite character for that. It's so funny because Penny is very sheltered...her mother doesn't let her do anything and certainly wouldn't approve of her dating a black boy. It's also refreshing becausse it was during a time when that definitely wouldn't be accepted, but they don't care, they are in love. There's one song in the show called without love and Penny sings a line saying "In my ivory tower life was just a hostess snack, But now I've tasted chocolate and I'm never going back."

It's a great show. The actors were great. The part of Tracy was actually played by the understudy last night and she was great. I can't wait for Rent to come in a couple weeks. That will be my next Orpheum outing. My mom won't be here though....anybody want to go?