Good Morning, Baltimore!

I don’t want to be a laundress, I want to be famous!

Times are changing, hair-dos are growing, and skirts are shrinking. Welcome to the 60’s!

In the 2007 movie musical Hairspray, Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonksy) is an optimistic teenager who loves dancing. Tracy’s mother, Edna Turnblad (John Travolta) wants her to follow her foot steps in becoming a laundry lady. While her father, Wilbur Turnblad (Christopher Walken) wants Tracy to do what makes her happy. Her best friend is the quirky Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes). After school each day they race home to watch their favorite show, The Corny Collins Show. This show has a cast of teenagers who teach new dances while also singing. The cast members also attend the same school as Tracy and Penny. Her high school crush, Link Larkin (Zac Efron), is the lead male dancer on the show next to his girlfriend, Amber Von Tussel (Brittney Snow).  Once a month they have “Negro Day” which is hosted by disc jockey, “Motormouth” Maybelle (Queen Latifiah).

When one of the girls on the show has to leave, they hold open auditions to fill this spot. Tracy skips school to go audition but is not given the opportunity because of her weight and support of integration on the show. She becomes friends with the “Negro Day” kids, notably Seaweed Stubbs (Elijah Kelley). They teach her new dances that gets her noticed by her favorite shows host, Corny Collins (James Marsden). He makes the final decision on who gets the opening slot and he picks Tracy! She instantly becomes the favorite dancer on the show.

Hairspray depicts what the 60’s were all about: change. From the hairstyles to the dancing, and most importantly the Civil Rights movement. Tracy goes through a lot in this movie musical adaption. She fights racism and sizeism. Just like the “Negro Day” kids, she is an outcast, looked down upon because of her appearance.

You can fight it or you can rock out to it!

Hairspray has a unique starting point than the other musicals I have covered so far. Hairspray started as a movie in 1988. This movie became a cult classic. In my opinion I found this movie to be very odd and sometimes hard to follow. This movie was then turned into a Broadway musical in 2002 with the same name. This adaptation won 8 Tony Awards. Then later in  2007 a movie adaptation of the Broadway musical was released. This movie musical full of famous stars did amazing in the box office. I highly recommend Hairspray (2007) if you want to listen to fun songs and to have a laugh!

Picture Credits:

http://www.cambio.com/photos/where-are-they-now-the-cast-of-hairspray/

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/01/hairspray-live-nbc