Hairspray (2002 Original Broadway Cast) [CAST RECORDING]

Marc Shaiman, Harvey Fierstein, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Scott Wittman, Kerry Butler

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 13, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00006AALQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (192 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,842 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  Music > Broadway & Vocalists > Musicals > Contemporary Musicals

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The cast recording for the Broadway musical of John Waters's 1988 paean to dance, music, big beautiful women, and integration is a sheer delight. It's wonderfully upbeat all the way through, with a classic feel that's in keeping with the story's setting in the early 1960s. The characters come alive in these songs, from Marissa Jaret Winokur's (Tracy Turnblad) opening lines in "Good Morning Baltimore" to the stunningly upbeat finale, "You Can't Stop the Beat." The music is by Marc Shaiman, whose recent projects include South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, as well as a number of film soundtracks, and his compositions are simultaneously solid and exuberant. Shaiman and Scott Wittman's lyrics brim over with the unreserved passions and primary-color emotions that made the film so successful. Regardless of one's familiarity with the story or the stage production, it's hard to avoid the appeal of this recording; even the less cheerful songs are awash in bright colors, without disrespect for their subjects. --Genevieve Williams

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Slickly Botched, August 13, 2002

By A Customer

The disclaimer is that this is a review of the cd, not the score, which is wonderful. The problem with the recording is that it was produced by the composer, Marc Shaiman, who has mostly worked with incidental film music. This score needed a producer familiar with theatrical sound because the score is easily the best thing about seeing the show live. What we get in this recording in a slickly produced (overproduced) pop record that favors the lead vocals while treating the accompanying music and vocals as background (in the truest sense of the word). The urgency and fun of the music is lost here, and this recording lands with a hefty thud when it should have sparkled to life. Oh, and the percussion is really loud, too, perhaps to try to give the recording a Wall of Sound-like quality. It just ends up being distracting and overwhelming. Hopefully, the show will be recorded live, or it will eventually be remastered. For now it's a lame souvenir of a theatrically vibrant score.

58 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Impressed., February 26, 2003

By	"hippo-potto" (Canada) - See all my reviews

For all the praise and awards that this show has garnered, I was expecting something-ANYTHING better than this! Over-produced, and under-talented, I found this as the biggest waste of my money and it went straight to a used CD store!

I understand it's supposed to be the anti-musical musical, but there is something to be said for occasionally hitting the right notes-maybe not all the time, but at least once a song-is that asking too much for a Broadway smash?

Bottom Line:The story's a shmaltzy feel-good parading around like a serious matter, and that's not too bad-but the music-your money would be better spent buying ANYTHING else!

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars So infectious there should be a vaccine..., February 27, 2004

By	M J Heilbron Jr. "Dr. Mo" (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Hairspray" is a terrific modern musical. It could be this generation's "Grease", only with a better plot. In fact, if you like "Grease" AND you enjoy "Little Shop of Horrors", this is a guaranteed future favorite for you.
The story, such that it is, involves Tracy Turnblad, a chunky but peppy white female who aches to dance on a local "American Bandstand"-type show in Baltimore circa the early 60's. Not only does she not fit the "typical" teenager on the show, but she finds it astonishing that blacks cannot dance on the show with whites.
Her mother, played by the inimitable Harvey Fierstein, naturally underestimates her daughter's tenacity. She believes that Tracy will never get on the show, and doesn't want to see her crushed by unattainable goals.
As you'd expect, she gets on the show, and dancing integration is achieved, but the music used to get you there is flat-out, full-blown, grin-from-ear-to-ear FUN.
It is brilliantly derivative of pre-British invasion rock music, melding rockabilly with Detroit soul. It sounds like EVERY song you can remember. Seriously. They're all here.
In the same way that a fond memory tends to get better with time, the score distills the best parts of that era's music, and pretty much puts it ALL on the stage. Spector-ish epics, raucous Motown, steamy Stax, teen idol Presley...I could spend days counting off the references. There should be an index.
The voices are above-average Broadway fare...WAY above-average in parts, and suit their characters just dandy.
Perhaps the musical would be better served if the entire score was presented, as people who have not yet seen the show are missing out on some great stuff that happens between these tunes.
Having just seen the show on Broadway, listening to the CD brings back the terrific time I had in the theater, but I think even the most jaded, uninitiated listener will cave into the unbridled enthusiasm of this project, notably the finale, "You Can't Stop The Beat." There's enough energy in that song to power the entire Tri-state area for a week.
I loved this show.