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The original film Hairspray is, in my humble opinion, John Waters best film.  All the films before Hairspray suffered from bad acting and production values but they had a wicked charm.  All the ones after have suffered from that “Let’s put on a show” fun quality and they are missing that undefined appeal of ‘good-bad’.  Hairspray is the only film that kept a perfect balance between the two extremes. 

Years passed and Mark Shalman and Scott Wittman decided to turn this flick into a big musical. But to be honest, the original film was a musical, in the American Graffiti school of filmmaking where the music is just as important as the actors are.  The songs like “The Bug”, “I’m Blue (the Gong-Gong Song)”, and “Foot Stompin’” were great dance tunes from the era.  But the one that shook me to the bone was “Nothing Takes the Place of You”; a song that slips into your soul and squeezes like an over ripe peach.

New Line has remade the show into a movie.  So we have the movie of the musical of the movie.  And if the movie is anything like the music, it should be a winner.

The soundtrack opens with “Good Morning Baltimore” and Tracy (Nikki Blondsky) basically singing a love song to her town.  Nikki’s voice warm and inviting, cheery and clear.  “(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs” is the showcase for Michelle Pfeiffer.  It’s a Cha-cha crossed with a Rumba telling the story of our evil matron.  She shows the range she did in Fabulous Baker Boys and not of the missteps of Grease II. Nikki Blondsky sings “I Can Hear Bells” which is reminiscent of “Till There Was You” from The Music Man but it has a devilish undertone in the lyrics.

“Ladies’ Choice” has that Bo Diddley beat and Zac Efron on the lead vocals.  This is probably a single release because every young teenage girl is in love with this kid.  Brittany Snow presents “The New Girl in Town” but it has a girl group funk.  Think of the Supremes crossed with the Marvelettes. 

“Welcome to the 60’s” is going to be the song that will surprise the casual listener.  John Travolta plays Edna in the film and on the song.  Yes, the Urban Cowboy is in drag.  Since drag queen Divine was the originator of the role in the first movie a guy has always played the role.  Here John seems to be trying too hard to stay in character and not just singing the song.

The entire cast gives it the big finish in “You Can’t Stop the Beat” which was the big number of the play.  With a bopping beat full of heavy percussion and great horns, the number just makes one want to dance.  Here it becomes a strong finish, even though there are three more tracks on the disc.

“Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now” ends the disc and it is sung by all three ladies who have played Tracy—Ricki Lake, Marissa Jaret Winokur and Nikki Blondsky.  It just shows that Ricki Lake should be given a chance to use her pipes on stage.

I have high hopes for this new version of Hairspray.  I loved the first film and loved the play.  I love this sound track which is just a fun listen.  There are a few strong numbers that should be summertime hits on the radio. 

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