From its ridiculously catchy opening number, through its funny but wholesome satire of early-'60s innocence, to its deliriously
happy finale, "Hairspray" is as delightful and entertaining a musical as Hollywood has produced in years. It doesn't just entertain you; it makes you happy. Based on the 2002 Broadway musical (which itself was based on the 1988 non-musical John Waters film), "Hairspray" is set in the colorful, not-quite-slummy Baltimore of 1962, where a chubby but happy teenager named Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) and her best friend Penny (Amanda Bynes) rush home after school each day to watch "The Corny Collins Show," a teen dance program similar to "American Bandstand." Tracy's greatest wish is to be a dancer on the show, and to get the attention of lead hoofer Link Larkin (Zac Efron), who goes to her school but never pays attention to her. But Tracy's mother, the housebound and self-conscious Edna (John Travolta, in a dress and a fat suit), discourages her from auditioning. They don't choose girls like us, she tells her, "us" being girls who aren't rail-thin.
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