‘Hairspray’ Soundtrack Review
For every fan of the John Waters’s original film Hairspray, I have one recommendation: buy the soundtrack to the 2007 movie musical version and listen. Listen closely. The slight subtle subversion is there. I mean there’s a song called “Miss Baltimore Crabs”. Use your imagination.
But the soundtrack to Hairspray, an Adam Shankman-directed adaptation of the Broadway musical, itself adapted from the 1988 film, is definitely a musical soundtrack. The opening song “Good Morning Baltimore” is a showtune through and through, with the big (blonde?) and beautiful voice of Nikki Blonsky leaving no room for argument.
The incompatibility of John Waters’s irreverence and Broadway’s shine are ever apparent. Yet, against the odds, these songs, the quirky lyrics and the quirkier performances are defiantly great. The shear joy aroused by Christopher Walken and John Travlota (Mr. and Mrs. Turnblad, respectively) singing “Timeless” is enough to get me in the theater.
Throw in Michelle Pfieffer’s devilish number “Miss Baltimore Crabs,” where she sings about her days as the femme fatale of the teen dance scene, and you have what may be the best movie musical soundtrack since Chicago. Oh, and did I mention Queen Latifah is at the top of her game as Motormouth Maybelle?
Fans of the Broadway musical (which I never saw) may be disappointed by the new songs “Ladies’ Choice” with Zac Efron and “The New Girl in Town” with Brittany Snow. They aren’t nearly as fun as the original Broadway songs. In fact, the song “Cooties,” written for Snow’s character Amber, is performed by someone else on the soundtrack and doesn’t appear in the feature film. The replacement songs also target the PG-audience with their lighter tone.
Thankfully, those songs don’t last long and will likely show up in the film with choreographer/director Shankman’s dances making up for the less interesting music. The soundtrack is best when it relies on the veteran performers or Blonsky and not High School Musical alum Efron. Amanda Bynes and Elijah Kelly have a few good moments as well, with Kelly singing “Run and Tell That” and the pair singing in “Without Love.”
“Without Love” is, in fact, the best song from the younger players, Efron included. But I must credit Marc Shaiman’s music and not just the performers for the overall success. Shaiman, along with lyricist Scott Whitman manage to get me to focus on the uber-fun, slightly offbeat 2007 film without thinking to hard about the 1988 original. The music of Hairspray gives a film version the momentum to be 2007’s Grease.
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