My niece turned ten last month and my sister decided to take her for a surprise trip from Sheffield down to London to see Hairspray, the film of which she had seen the requisite 100s of times.
I was a little suspicious of the enterprise. I had done absolutely nil research and let my suppositions be ruled by the only thing I knew about it which was that one of the main characters was played by a male actor in drag.
I set off with stereotypical attitudes firmly in place, expecting some sort of a cross between the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Mother Goose. Predictably, I was wrong and spent a very pleasant couple of hours watching my guesswork being merrily blown out of the water.
