EVERYONE has a dream. And Tracy Turnblad is no different - the big girl from Baltimore dreams of making it big but her fledgling career in the limelight has to take a back seat as the misfit teen takes on a bigger cause, to end segregation on the show of the moment, television’s The Corny Collins Show.

This is of course Hairspray, on a new UK tour which opened in Bristol last night with huge up-dos, gigantic glittery dresses, swinging sixties dance moves and a famous score including Good Morning Baltimore and the instantly catchy You Can’t Stop the Beat.

Freya Sutton reprises her role as the young Tracy who, despite her larger size is intent on winning a place as a dancer opposite the dashing Link Larkin (Ashley Gilmour). Perfectly cast, Sutton has the same twee goodness to her voice fans of the story and its songs have come to expect. Whilst her high notes may not be to everyone’s taste, you cannot fault the energy and pace she brings to this girlish role.

Benidorm favourite Tony Maudsley steps into the rather large shoes of Edna Turnblad, played on screen by Divine and John Travolta and unforgettably on stage by Michael Ball, and with the deepest of voices and larger-than-life costumes, he makes for a wonderfully entertaining and loveable dame.

The magic moment of the show comes shortly into the second half with the hilariously sweet duet You’re Timeless to Me between Edna and husband Wilbur, played by former Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan.

Villainous Velma Von Tussle, the insanely protective mother of all-American Amber and producer of the almost all white Corny show, is played by former Brookside actress Claire Sweeney. Composed throughout, Sweeney takes charge of the role at the end of the show as she sweeps through the stalls picking out victims to hurl abuse at as black and white dancers perform on stage and in front of the Corny cameras for the first time.

Former X Factor contestant Brenda Edwards is the voice of the show, bringing the house down with a belting performance of I Know Where I’ve Been.

Hairspray is full of fun, somersaulting dance routines and uplifting American songs set amid an undercurrent of unrest, with a touching nod to Martin Luther King, in the revolutionary 1960s when there was a real will to change the world. There is every reason to love Hairspray not least how much the cast are enjoying themselves on stage.

Hairspray is on at the Bristol Hippodrome until Saturday, March 12.