Eugene weekly., March 21, 2019, Page 12, Image 12

HAIRSPRAY—
ban or control art — an effort that, in the end, just gives art more power.
They immediately fight as only loving family members can; Neary
THE BROADWAY
This is a beautiful, horrifying and exquisite play, performed to
later quips to her Cambodian boyfriend, Ted (Moses Villarama), that,
MUSICAL(2019): ENSEMBLE
PHOTO BY JENNY GRAHAM
high-energy perfection. It might be the best show I’ve seen at OSF (my
as the only child of an only child, she is doomed to be “disappointment
last favorite was Mary Zimmerman’s White Snake in 2012). It kept me in
made flesh.”
rapt attention for its entire two and a half hour run time before leaving me wrung out
Guest artist Chay Yew — who directed Cambodian Rock Band’s world premiere
and gasping, near tears and laughing my head off. Get your seats now — they’ll certainly
last year at South Coast Rep and Hannah and the Dread Gazebo at OSF in 2017 — di-
go fast, even though it runs for the full season.
rects with fast, fluid energy. The show never stops moving and never stops wowing.
On a fundamental level Cambodian Rock Band is about the weaponization of art —
especially music, but also storytelling itself. We see the bleakness that happens when
the Khmer Rouge take over in 1975 and begin exterminating artists and intellectuals.
Angus Bowmer Theatre through Oct. 27
In the real world, a strong tradition of Cambodian rock ‘n’ roll that flourished
in Phnom Penh in the late ’60s and early ’70s was all but eradicated by the Khmer
Who could not love Hairspray? The Broadway musical, based on the John Waters
Rouge. An L.A. group, Dengue Fever, has used a small number of recordings that
film of the same name, is a feel-good romp through the repressive shibboleths of the
survived the purge to bring back that Southeast Asian rock, and their songs — per-
1960s: racism, sexism and discrimination based on appearance among them, with a
formed on stage by the fictional band the Cyclos — form the soundtrack to Cambodi-
good dose of old-time Motownish rock ‘n’ rock for a soundtrack.
an Rock Band.
As the story opens, played out here on a wondrously versatile rotating set by Nina
The play doesn’t stop there. The show — a taut melodrama, with a fast-moving
Ball, plus-sized Baltimore teenager Tracy Turnblad, played with zest by Katy Ger-
plot and plenty of coincidences — dances delicately through the murky issues of per-
aghty, is watching The Corny Collins Show on afternoon TV when Corny (Eddie Lo-
sonal responsibility and redemption in a world filled with evil. In the end, it explores
pez) announces the show is looking for a new dancer.
the secrets that parents inevitably keep from their children, even in our tell-all,
Tracy wants to try out, but her plus-plus-sized mother, Edna (played wonderfully
truth-as-therapy age.
here by Daniel T. Parker, a physical comedy genius, in the role that was performed in
The character in the play named Duch — it’s pronounced “Doik” — is based on a
the original film by Divine), forbids it, not wanting Tracy’s feelings to be hurt.
real person. Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, was arrested in 1999 for his role in the
With that, the story is off and running, wending its way past the audition itself into
murderous Khmer Rouge death camps, best known in the U.S. through the 1984 mov-
Tracy’s determination to crash Baltimore’s strict color line and integrate Corny’s
ie The Killing Fields. The former math teacher is now serving a life sentence for his
monthly Negro Day dance with the regular all-white show. This results in protests,
role in killing some 15,000 people.
cops and jail — much like the real-life events in Baltimore that inspired Waters’ film.
In the play, Duch, the commander of S21, a Khmer Rouge death camp, tells one of
The music’s good, if rarely great; the best song is “I Know Where I’ve Been,” the
his prisoners that whoever tells the story is always telling the truth.
show’s 11 o’clock number by Motormouth Maybelle (Greta Oglesby).
That, of course, is why dictators and authoritative regimes of all stripes want to
This is a fine show that feels a bit dated. Camp has long since lost the edge it had
Hairspray
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS | SCHOOL OF ARTS AND COMMUNICATION
SAC Presents 18-19
A project out of Duke
University. These are
America's home movies,
with a score written by
Jenny Scheinman and
performed live with her
stellar trio.
TICKETS: $30-$35 in advance | $35-$40 at the door
Free tix for OSU students in advance or at
the door while tickets are available.
GET MORE INFO AND PURCHASE TICKETS AT:
liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/SACevents
JeNNY SCHeINMAN & H. Lee WATerS
KANNAPOLIS: A MOVING PORTRAIT
Saturday, April 6, 2019 | 7:30pm
The LaSells Stewart Center, 875 SW 26th Street, Corvallis
12
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E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M