Hairspray is a 2007 American
musical romantic comedy film based on the
2002 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on
John Waters's
1988 comedy film of the same name. Adapted from both Waters' 1988 script and
Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell's book for the stage musical by screenwriter
Leslie Dixon, the 2007 film version of
Hairspray is directed and choreographed by
Adam Shankman and stars
John Travolta,
Michelle Pfeiffer,
Christopher Walken,
Amanda Bynes,
James Marsden,
Queen Latifah,
Brittany Snow,
Zac Efron,
Elijah Kelley,
Allison Janney and
Nikki Blonsky.
Hairspray features songs from the Broadway musical written by
Marc Shaiman and
Scott Wittman, as well as four new Shaiman/Wittman compositions not present in the original Broadway version. Set in 1962
Baltimore, Maryland, the film follows the "pleasantly plump" teenager Tracy Turnblad as she pursues stardom as a dancer on a local TV show and rallies against
racial segregation.