"We’re gonna shake and shimmy it, and have some fun…" LOOOONG.

THIS POST HAS SOME MOVIE SPOILERS...READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The last time I was obsessed with something that didn't have a heartbeat, it completely consumed my senior year at NCSA even though it really started in July of 2003. It was during that month while I was attending my last SAB summer course that I wandered into the Neil Simon Theater to purchase a single ticket for an upcoming preview performance of the new musical "Hairspray." Little did I know what I was getting myself into. Ever since I was a child I fondly remember sitting with my sister and watching John Waters' camp classic starring Ricky Lake as the overweight teenager Tracy Turnblad who dances her feet off to stop segregation in 1960's Baltimore. Perhaps I related to the themes of being an outsider (who can't) but at that moment it didn't matter because the merging of one of my favorite movies with one of my favorite things (musical theater) sounded like heaven.

There are many theater going experiences that I remember very little of, save a seat location or particular moment that stood out, but I remember every detail of that July night. The energy in the theater before the show started was subdued yet excited but no level of excitement would ever come close to matching the following two and a half hours. From the moment the audience found Tracy laying in her bed, uniquely staged by Jack O' Brian, as she sang the opening notes of "Good Morning, Baltimore" the audience was screaming and shouting every three or so minutes. With the close of each number came yet another moment to be topped (that continuously was) until the mother of all Broadway-finale's "You Can't Stop The Beat" practically blew the roof off of the theater.

My poor roommate had to put up with me continuously playing the Cast Recording, plastering magazine cut outs around the room, and eventually dressing as Edna Turnblad to my friend Mandy's Tracy for Halloween. I was crazed. Needless to say my expectations building up to the recently released film version of "Hairspray" were rather high. Every time I saw the ads with John Travolta covered in creepy cabbage patch kid make-up (I'm sure he doesn't smell as good as a Cabbage Patch Kid) a little part of my heart died. Only a slight exaggeration.

(TWINS.)

Friday night I reunited with my friend Rebecca (who had sat front row with me during a subsequent visit to the show) for a little Chinese food at Ollies before heading to see if Hollywood was able to get it right...

For the most part, they did. From start to finish "Hairspray" is enjoyable in all of its musical glory and there are only a few things that almost had me cringing. Fortunately, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman have written one of the catchiest, wittiest and flat out enjoyable scores to hit Broadway in years and they deserve a huge amount of the credit for the immense success of the show and the movie. Every song packs a punch that transferred well to the screen even if it never quite duplicates the excitement of seeing it live. Some of the songs didn't sound as fully fleshed out vocally ("Without Love" especially) as I had hoped but I was extremely happy to see that director Adam Shankman didn't shy away from the fact that in a musical, people WILL just break into song. Modern audiences have such a hard time accepting this and I was worried that the montage-y treatment that "Dreamgirls" received would bleed over to "Hairspray."

It's clear from the very beginning as newcomer Nikki Blonsky struts through Baltimore singing to the bums and the rats on the street that Shankman won't shy away from the inherent cheesiness that a musical possesses. Instead he fully embraces it, staging number after number that swiftly carries the first 45 minutes of the movie along. A few highlights include the wonderful reworking of "I Can Hear The Bells" which has Tracy trailing Link around school in a dreamy eyed haze, Elijah Kelly's breakout moments in "Run and Tell That" and the killer new songs that Shaiman wrote for the score. Zac Efron (of "High School Musical" fame) gets "Ladies Choice" which will engrain itself in your head for days to come and several girls get "The New Girl In Town" which introduces us to the singing group of "The Dynamites." Some of the most exciting moments on Broadway (which during preview performances had people screaming) were the moments that The Dynamites popped out unexpectedly to lend a little soul to Tracy and her mother. I was pleased to see how well they were integrated into the film as they randomly popped up on park benches and billboards.

After the first rapid fire explosion of musical numbers, I felt that things slowed down a little bit and never fully regained their energy especially with the finale "You Can't Stop The Beat." Due to unpleasant editing (which leaves large junks for dialogue in the middle of the song) and choreography that can't quite match the brilliant simplicity of Jerry Mitchell's original, I felt that the movie didn't end giving you the incredible high that the live experience in the theater does. So much of the focus is taken away from Tracy at the end that it sours things a little. Nevertheless it still is pretty damn enjoyable throughout.

One could complain about a few of the performances, most notably John Travolta's plastic looking mother. What differs so much from his portrayal compared to his Broadway or original film counterparts (Harvey Fierstein and Divine, respectively) is that Travolta tries to convince us that he is a woman. Where Divine and Fierstein would let out a deeply manly voice to contradict the feminine appearance, Travolta dons a foolish Baltimore accent and plays everything demure. It leaves you wondering why the hell there is a man playing a woman instead of gathering that it further accentuates the universal theme of acceptance that is the heart of "Hairspray." That being said, I enjoyed him more than I thought I would and it's always fun to see him dancing like his days in "Grease."

The rest of the cast is pretty fantastic especially in the group of teenagers making up the corps kids. Amanda Bynes is the weakest link as Penny but Elijah Kelly, Zac Efron and Nikki Blonsky more than make up for her shortcomings. On the adult side, Allison Janey manages to steal all of her scenes as Penny's religious zealot of a mother. Queen Latifah never brings the same urgency and passion to her songs that her Broadway counterpart Mary Bond Davis did and this especially hurts things when she has to take over for the closing section of the finale. Christopher Walken and Michelle Pfeiffer do their best with a slightly awkward side plot added for the movie but bring some humor through the rest of the proceedings. James Marsden was surprising in the fleshed out character of TV personality Corny Collins. He has a great singing voice and no one can really complain about looking at him.

Sitting in the theater, okay I'll admit I saw it twice this weekend, swept me back to the days of high school where life often did feel as bubbly and delicious as the world of "Hairspray" made it out to be. I'll never be able to pinpoint why I became quite as obsessed with it as I did but after going back to the show this past January I was more amazed than ever at how great the score is. They've done an incredible thing packing a message of acceptance and the struggles it brings, which is still so relevant today, into the sweetest package imaginable. Even with a cast that couldn't touch the original and a half empty theater I was overwhelmed with the happiness that this show brings out in all of us. After playing the Cast Recording repeatedly this weekend I want to thank Marc Shaiman for putting a smile on my face just when I needed it. Do yourself a favor and go put a smile on yours by seeing this movie.

("You Can't Stop The Beat")

("Ladies Choice")

("The New Girl In Town")

Comments

[jolene]

i loved the movie too! it's always scary to watch a movie of a musical you really love, in case they didn't get it right. in this case tho, i couldn't stop smiling for the first half of the movie.

i had such high hopes for queen latifah, but there was just a little something missing from her performance. i agree with you about "you can't stop the beat" - it's supposed to blow the roof off of the house, but it didn't. the singing abilities of these actors probably had a little do with it.

give me "hairspray" over "legally blonde" any day. :)