Dating back to the time of the Ancient Greeks musicals started when the Greeks included music and dance in their stage comedies. From the 5th century B.C Musicals have developed into amazing acts and performances not even close to what they were in the past. Some include: Cats, The Phantom of The Opera, Broadway and newer ones like Hairspray and The Producers.
I have not watched very many musicals as they only come out every once in a while but one of the more recent ones is Hairspray. It is about a girl named Tracy Turnbland who manages to show everyone the stupidity in segregation and that 'coolness' is on the inside.
Tracy is a severely overweight high school student in Baltimore, Maryland whose favourite TV program is The Corny Collins Show that is broadcasted by Baltimore's WYZT station every weekday afternoon. The show involves young teens dancing and singing up a storm. The manager of the station, Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer) goes out of her way to ensure her daughter Amber is prominently featured and that the show remains segregated. All of the kids on the show are white. Black kids are only allowed on the show on Negro Day, the last Tuesday of the each month, hosted by local R&B radio DJ Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah).
One day, Corny Collins (James Marsden) announces that one of the dancers is going on a leave of absence and auditions are going to be held for a replacement the following morning – during school hours. Even though their parents are far from supportive, Tracy and her best friend Penny go to audition. Velma turns Tracy away for being overweight and supportive of integration.
Unfortunately for Tracy, she gets caught and sent to detention for skipping school, but lo-and-behold, detention is where all the black kids hang out and dance. Tracy befriends hot detention dancer Seaweed (Elijah Kelley), who as it turns out, is Motormouth Maybelle's son. Seaweed teaches Tracy some R&B moves that later get her a spot on The Corny Collins Show.
Tracy quickly becomes a big star on the show thanks to her great moves and bubbly personality but Velma does not see it that way. All she sees is how Tracy is a threat to Amber's position in the "Miss Teenage Hairspray" pageant and Amber's courtship with Link, the lead performer for The Corny Collins Show.
Out of anger, Velma cancels Negro Day from The Corny Collins Show and the black kids and their leader Maybelle have nowhere to express their talent.
Without giving too much away, Tracy shows everyone the importance of not giving up, of standing up for what you believe in and for the people you are friends with. While racism against blacks and segregation has stopped being the main focus in everyone's lives, it is still surprisingly popular today among the less accepting of society. This movie shows us that it is important to be proud of who you are and the people you are associated with, whether they are fat, gangly, black or even purple.
Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.
