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The 1950s are out, and change is in the air! HAIRSPRAY, winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, is a family-friendly musical, piled bouffant-high with laughter, romance and deliriously tuneful songs. It’s 1962 in Baltimore, and the lovable plus-size teen, Tracy Turnblad, has only one desire – to dance on the popular “Corny Collins Show.” When her dream comes true, Tracy is transformed from social outcast to sudden star. She must use her newfound power to dethrone the reigning Teen Queen, win the affections of heartthrob, Link Larkin, and integrate a TV network… all without denting her ‘do!

Book by Mark O’Donnell & Thomas Meehan, Music by Marc Shaiman, Lyrics by Scott Whittman & Marc Shaiman, Based on the New Line Cinema film written and directed by John Waters. 

History: Hairspray is based on the 1988 film of the same name, directed by John Waters. Waters based the main storyline and “The Corny Collins Show” on the real-life “The Buddy Deane Show” and racial events surrounding it. Theatre producer, Margo Lion, saw a television broadcast of the film in 1998 and started to conceive it as a stage musical. She reached out to Marc Shaiman, and they based their material on both the 1960s dance music and the rhythm and blues in the African-American community at the time. Shaiman and Wittman used many already-established songs from the 60s as a basis for their own songs, like “River Deep, Mountain High” for “You Can’t Stop the Beat” and “Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher” for “Without Love.” Initially, Rob Marshall was brought in to direct, but scheduling conflicts with the movie, Chicago, proved to be too much. In writing the book, Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan made copious changes from the original screenplay. They chose to create obstacles for Tracy, simplified the plot, and fleshed out characters like Link, Seaweed and Velma. They routinely collaborated with Waters about plot points and choice of language.

Accolades: Nominated 12 times, won 8 Tony Awards including for best musical, book, score and direction. Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. Winner of 10 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical. Laurence Olivier Awards: Won 4 awards, including Best New Musical