Divas Spray it with Music

Ahead of the opening of the musical Hairspray, Coral Drouyn and David Spicer took the opportunity to speak to the three leading ladies, Velma, Tracy … and Edna.

First up, Rhonda Burchmore (Velma) and Carmel Rodrigues (Tracy) talk Stiff Hair and Bouffants in a No Super-holds barred chat with Coral.

They say if you remember the Sixties, you weren’t really there. Well I was there and I remember it all – Beatniks, Beatles, Beehives, Back-combing - and hairspray.

It was an iconic era (though we didn’t know it then) and no self- respecting teenage girl would be caught dead without a spray can of Superhold Elnett or VO5. It was a staple product of growing up.

John Waters, writer and director of the original film Hairspray (1988), was also a child of the sixties and his film became a cult classic largely because of its “camp” and “kitsch” presentation (a lead character played by a Drag queen? Unheard of! But the role has been played in drag ever since).

Buried just beneath the surface of a story about an overweight “pleasantly plump” girl trying to fit in and gain acceptance on an American Bandstand style TV show, was a story of all the “misfits” in the world who just want to be acknowledged and belong. It’s a classic “Triumph over Adversity” story with an inspiring message, and when composer Marc Shaiman (born on the cusp of the sixties) saw the film, brought to him by producer Margo Lion, he knew that it had to be a musical - one with an almost cartoonish look but a serious underbelly, and Hairspray – the Musical, was born.

It's twenty years since the musical opened in Seattle, winning eight Tony awards from its 13 nominations, and since then it has had more than thirty professional productions, countless amateur ones and is frequently listed as one of the “Top Ten Musicals of ALL Time.”

But, take away the accolades and you have a joyous homage to the greatest era of pop music ever, and a story of family and love and following your dreams.

And now the long-awaited revival is opening in August 2022 at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre.

Rhonda Burchmore (the villainous Velma Von Tussle), one of our biggest names in theatre, cabaret and recording, is certainly no stranger when it comes to Musical Theatre, though this time she swaps leading lady for a “deliciously wicked and bitchy” role and welcomes newcomer Carmel Rodrigues – in her first ever professional role from her first ever professional audition (the stuff of show-biz dreams) – as Tracy.

Although one is at the pinnacle, and the other on the first rung of the ladder, they share a mutual history with Hairspray – not the show - the product.

“My mother used to model herself on Joan Collins,” Rhonda tells me, “so her hair was always in place and heavily lacquered to the point where her face could move, but her hair stayed in the one spot.”

I had to laugh, but Rhonda isn’t joking.

“Don’t laugh. I swear the first scent I remember from childhood is the smell of hairspray,” she explains. “By the time I was four and appearing in dance competitions, my mother would spray me all over to make sure my over exaggerated Max Factor makeup didn’t move either. It’s a wonder I didn’t go blind!”

It was a similar story for Carmel.

“I so remember what that was like. I started as a dancer in a girl’s ballet troupe. And whenever we went to perform anywhere the amount of hairspray was enough to make everyone cough. Thank goodness I will be wearing wigs in the show,” Carmel tells me.

While there are nearly two generations between them, there are similarities between the two performers; there are similarities in their journey. Both made (will make) their professional debuts while in their twenties (Rhonda in They’re Playing Our Song – as one of the three chanteuses). Both have faced the difficulty of not having “The Look” or fitting in. That’s why this show resonates with both.

“It was not easy for me with school productions,” Rhonda tells me. “I was way too tall to be the princess or leading lady (1.82 metres), so usually I had to play men’s roles, but that was hard to do as well, because I was all legs (still am) and I don’t exactly look like a bloke – or so I’m told. It’s strange because the legs, that held me back from parts when I was a kid, became a trademark (and the name of her autobiography). A few nasty people have suggested that they are the only reason I’m successful – but though you can get there with looks - you have to have more than that to stay there.”

Carmel agrees. “I wasn’t your Disney Princess either,” she recalls. “So when I heard that St Joey’s was doing Hairspray, I knew I just HAD to get the role of Tracy, and I did. And that was fate – it was my very first audition and I was hooked.”

Carmel, with her exotic bloodline of Portuguese, Indian and European heritage, was always obsessed with music.

“My Mum and Dad had a band and they used to gig every week,” she tells me. “So, I was always interested in all kinds of music. I love Spanish music and I studied Russian dancing for a while. But 60s pop? WOW! It is just the most sensational era of music.”

One major difference between the two is relationship status. By the time Rhonda embraced stardom in Sugar Babies she was already married to her great love, Nicolai, and they are still in love after 38 years, whilst Carmel is waiting for Mr Right. “

“My parents told me of how my grandfather used to stand under my grandmother’s window and serenade her until she opened the window and talked to him. How romantic!” she explains to me. “I guess I am waiting for that sort of romance.”

While Rhonda won’t give romance tips to Carmel, she does have some words of advice for the newcomer.

“Watch…and listen,” Rhonda says. “When I had the chance to work with Eddie Bracken and then later Mickey Rooney, I just drank in everything they did on stage and learned so much about timing and connecting with an audience.”

And she’s been doing it ever since, for almost forty years. Of course it’s harder for Carmel because she will be centre stage and driving the show, so there’s not much spare time for observing. But Rhonda has one more piece of showbiz advice.

“Be careful whose toes you tread on when you’re on the way up. They may be attached to the feet and legs that lead to the bum you may have to kiss on the way down,” Rhonda says.

So far Rhonda hasn’t had to worry about the way down, but It’s great advice.

I’ll add my own….don’t forget Hairspray - The Musical, of course.

Shane Jacobson as Edna

He’s hairy enough to fashion a beehive, but not from the curls on his head. Shane Jacobson tells David Spicer why he can’t wait to welcome the 1960s.

David Spicer: What excites you about the show?

Shane Jacobson: It has great music from start to finish. My kids are excited about me doing it. Right at the start my daughter overheard me talking about Hairspray. She said you must do it. I have never had my kids excited about a role.

DS: Has there been a show where your children have said please don’t do that role – we will be embarrassed?

SJ: Three words. The Full Monty. Quite easy to answer. Not even a joke.

DS: I take it you are of the hairy persuasion?

SJ: I look like rug. Shave me and you could cover Tassie in hair. My daughter said, do you really think people are going to want to see it? I said yes, to raise money for cancer. She said I think you will kill people in the process.

DS: You are not known for your beauty. Are you going to keep your beard on?

SJ: No, the beard has to go. All the things I am hiding are going to be revealed. Beauty and I are not good friends. I saw Fashion on a bus once and she walked straight past me without casting eyes.

DS:  It is a big sing?

SJ: It is. When I did Guys and Dolls, playing Nicely Nicely, there was “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat”, and I guarantee I couldn’t sing that at 7 o’clock, but by the time it came for me to sing it, I was warmed up. This role allows me to lean on falsetto which makes it easier?

DS: What is your approach to appearing on stage in a dress?

SJ: Well, I am going to do what John Travolta did in the movie, I am not going to play it for comedy, although there are lines which are amusing. I will approach it as a parent. The reason Tracey has such confidence to take on the world is because she has support a of loving mother and father – my job is to play the character. When I played Kenny people though I was a plumber and had a lisp. I want people to say, I went and saw Hairspray where Shane Jacobson played Edna Turnblad, and she was such a lovely mother. I know footy players dress up as women for laughs but in this case, I think this has to be played not for gags but for heart.

DS: Why then does it need to be played by a man?

SJ: That is the way it was written. Theatre has done gender blind casting so well for so long. Interestingly, Magda played Big Jule in Guys and Dolls and no one looked at that.

Why can’t a man wear a dress? The whole truth for me about Hairspray is about inclusion, whether it is a plus size girl, or about stopping segregation. A man on stage in a dress is all part of it.

DS: Is it a musical that doesn’t date?

SJ: Segregation, body inclusion - the world has a lot to learn from it. My daughter at the age of 12 could not believe there was a thing called segregation; she thought it was the weirdest thing. People can learn something from their rear vision mirror, then what they do outside their front windscreen becomes a better path. It is not often a musical can do that.

Hairspray plays at Melbourne's Regent Theatre from August 2022, with seasons to follow at Adelaide's Festival Theatre in December, and Sydney's Lyric Theatre in February 2023. 

Photographer: Jeff Busby.