Maddi Baillo has the energy, sweetness and no nonsense attributes to be Tracy Turnblad, the 60's teen with a little extra girth who longs to dance on TV and puts the smug snobby racists in their place, in the process bringing her sheltered mom (Harvey Fierstein, deliciously repeating his Tony winning role) out of her ironed in shell and striving for the love of the non- judgmental hunk (Garrett Clayton). But the magicians have pulled the rabbit out of the hat, and the rabbit is thumping with 40 karats! An extraordinarily group of young talents join an incredible ensemble of veterans who are having a ball bringing this Tony Award winning musical fully back to life. Unfortunately, as entertaining as it was with a few thrilling performances, much of the magic was gone.
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Having seen Harvey in the early months of the run in the fall of 2002, and one of his many replacements, I was looking forward to the movie version in 2007.
The Broadway musical, coming at the time when the medium was arising from a self-induced coma, was even more thrilling with new songs and dances, starting a lengthy run that only came to an end due to the recession of 2008. It's nearing 30 years since the release of the original John Walters comedy classic that rocked my world and had me doing the Madison in 1988.