Analysis Of The Musical Hairspray

There are many live performances that have a lasting effect on society or try to convey a message through art. In this case though, Hairspray has been the selected piece I’m choosing to write about. It is considered to be a flashy, catchy, musical that ultimately hits on racial segregation and inequality. In this paper, I will be covering different material ranging from the actual background story of the musical, the themes the musical is trying to convey, information on John Waters (the man who started it all), some elements of set design, and the overall influence Hairspray has had after its run.
To start off on the right track, it is essential to have the characters I will be discussing about in this paper along with their descriptions
The musical goes back to an adaption of the 1988 film, written by John Waters, who had a history of his movies containing disturbing content, actually surprised people with his success of a “flashy” musical. He had “been characterized as a student of the strange behavior of white people in Baltimore” (Haspel 1). He claims that he wrote Hairspray in a different “voice” without intention, he really just wrote about his obsessions. Having one of them being The Buddy Deane Show, and similar to characters Tracy and her best friend Penny, he would run home after school to watch the show. In regards to The Buddy Deane Show, only whites could attend to view the broadcast, much like Hairspray, it too had a “Black Monday” just like “Negro Day”. Although, “integration ended 'The Buddy Deane Show.' When the subject comes up today, most loyalists want to go off the record. But it went something like this: 'Buddy Deane' was an exclusively white show. Once a month the show was all black […] so the NAACP targeted the show for protests […] There were threats and bomb scares; integrationists smuggled whites into the all-black shows to dance cheek-to-cheek on camera with blacks, and that was it. 'The Buddy Deane Show' was over […] January 4, 1964” (Curry 1). Waters was able to recognize that film has the ability to influence time and portray a story and “in Hairspray, he sets out to
Many articles and newspapers break down the message that Hairspray intended to give. The issue that Hairspray decides to tackle revolves around racial segregation. When looking back into the time period that Hairspray was set in, it’s clear our minds go straight to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. As stated by The Atlantic, “Hairspray is firmly rooted in 1960s America, but it offers both sophisticated and (tellingly) simplistic ways of understanding racism today. On the one hand, the story’s feel-good conclusion implies that colorblindness is the silver bullet that ends racial discrimination, that good intentions and individual acts of bravery are enough to bring about harmony” (Delmont 1). Another connection I found in 1960s Baltimore, was a society filled with white teens who enjoyed listening to race music along with rock and roll. My intro to music class actually covered this sort of information about how parents were warned to not let their children get involved with this “racy” behavior and music. This is portrayed exactly in the musical with The Corny Collins Show. Once a month on Negro Day, they would have African Americans dance and sing music for a mainly, Caucasian audience. A piece I found interesting in Hairspray: the roots, page 140 is when they talk about Act Two, Scene 4, where “escapees Tracy and Link seek refuge at Motormouth’s record shop, where all the