Hairspray, the musical, is based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. The American musical includes music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan. The story begins with Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with an even bigger heart, who is on a mission to follow her dreams. She works hard to dance her way onto national television with the nice and rich kids in town. Tracy’s audition is a success, and she uses her fame to fight for equality during
segregation, inequality and injustice. African Americans have been fighting against racial discrimination for centuries; however during the 1950’s this heated topic became very mainstream. In movies Hairspray and Dreamgirls this topic of racism and segregation are expressed greatly. The movie Hairspray sets in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland. During this time period men and boys would wear suits for events and layback suits for school while the women and girls would wear brightly colored conservative
Tracy Turnblad has a dream of being a cast member of her favorite singing and dancing after-school program, which is also segregated. To her, performing isn’t black and white; talent is talent. When she finally gets a shot on the show she turns the system completely