Many musical fans have been waiting in anticipation of the movie adaptation of Hairspray. Already a stage classic to rival Grease, Hairspray has gathered enough star power to get a movie adaptation with some real backing. Now we hear news of an early review, and it looks good!
At ShoWest yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the big “gala” event of the entire show for New Line’s upcoming summer film Hairspray, adapted from the musical (and original John Waters film). The full on extravaganza featured about 20 minutes of footage that would end up in a live performance on the stage from the respective singer in the movie. In addition to plenty of good free food, almost the entire cast was present: John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Marsden, Elijah Kelley, Zac Efron, and newcomer Nicole Blonsky as the lead. And honestly, I was impressed at the footage I saw, and have a feeling this might be a big summer hit!
I’m not a big musicals fan, with a special dislike for both Chicago and Moulin Rouge. For the first time in a long time I was surprised to find myself enjoying Dreamgirls last year, the first musical in a while that I actually appreciated. And last night at the Hairspray event, I again found myself smiling while watching and being caught up in the songs they were singing. As best described by Robert at IESB, he called it the first musical in a long time to have the same catchy vibe since Grease.
With an all star cast like that, and Walken and Travolta both dancing and singing together in drag, how can this movie NOT be a lot of fun to see.
It has been a long time since we have seen a movie musical with the cult following of Grease. How many other musicals can you say they make a dance remix out of the songs and play them at clubs? Hairspray already has the stage reputation for a fun and rousing musical, and its good to hear the film version tries to capture that.
You can read the rest of the review by clicking HERE
