5 of 19

Write now Article Tools

Being a dedicated fan of Hairspray the stage show (having seen it three times and memorizing everything I could about it including songs and choreography), I was apprehensive to step into the theater to see how it had changed on the silver screen. After the lukewarm success of movie musicals The Phantom of the Opera and Rent, I was afraid the big budget production was going to ruin the dazzle of my favorite musical for all those who weren't lucky enough to see it live.

When the movie started on 11:59pm on July 19th, I found myself bobbing with glee as the opening drumbeat gave me both flashbacks to the feelings of excitement for the live show and new hope that the movie would do both original movie and stage show proud.

Needless to say, I was not disappointed with the combination of original movie and musical before me on the screen. The all star cast shared the screen while flawlessly slipping into individual characters of all sorts and creating a team that brought a smile to my face. The film itself is the perfect mixture of it's root material. It's not dark and dingy like the original film and not colorful and sparkly like the stage show has got covered. This adaptation is a perfect blend of the two worlds, which creates a brand new member of the Hairspray family with it's own quirks and plot changes.

My favorite performances were by Christopher Walken as the optimistic father Wilbur, James Marsden as the charming dance show host Corny Collins, Elijah Kelly as the energetic and hopeful Seaweed J. Stubbs, and of course Nikki Blonsky as the amiable and determined Tracy Turnblad. Brittany Snow also pulls off a mean Amber Von Tussel (literally) which is a surprisingly satisfying change for the sugary sweet actress.

My one real qualm about the movie has to do with plot structure change that I'm sure had to do with shortening the film for timing purposes. The story about Tracy Turnblad's longing for fame as a dancer, the boy of her dreams, and racial equality take a rough turn when she decides to protest for her "Negro" friends' right to dance on the show by her side. In the stage show this results in major characters being arrested and taken to the jail house where the audience follows. However to shortcut this scene, Wilbur mentions paying for bail for twenty who were arrested and we never see anyone in jail. This change works well, except for the fact that while Tracy is in Jail in the stage version, she gets a special visit from Link Larkin, her dream boy, who has come to bust her out! This is a major scene for Link, he shows that he's willing to risk a lot more than his career to save Tracy and because of this, the audience is finally convinced that he's the guy for Tracy. To reconfirm this notion, the Characters start to sing "Without Love," one of the catchier tunes in a collection of gems. All of this build up and excitement is lost in the movie when Link sings "Without Love" to a photo of Tracy alone in Tracy's room.

As you can see, I'm a huge fan of all versions of Hairspray. I love all the music and am really impressed by new additions to the score by Marc Shaiman like "Lady's Choice," well sung by Zac Efron. I've only chosen to analyze what I thought of the movie in comparison since I think the show is so great, critiquing the content of the movie would probably become obnoxious drooling. I hope you see the film, I believe you'll like it. Although it's a great reinterpretation of the original Movie and the stage show, they're all their own entities and I think you should try your best to experience each one for yourself!

Learn more about this author, Clare Loughran.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Movie reviews: Hairspray?
We want to hear your view. Write now!