Today, Movie Dearest kicks off a weeklong countdown to the new movie musical of John Waters' cult classic Hairspray, which opens nationwide this Friday.The groovin' new Hairspray soundtrack is on sale now, and I can't get enough of it. Fans of the original Broadway show won't be disappointed, even if they did cut "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now" from the movie. That song is heard on the soundtrack though, sung by the three actresses who have played Tracy Turnblad: Ricki Lake, the original Tracy (who actually sounds pretty good - who knew from her trashy talk show?), Marissa Jaret Winokur (winner of the Tony Award for originating the role on Broadway) and Nikki Blonsky, the unknown cast in the new film who is sure to be a gay fave for the rest of her life. I was never a big fan of Winokur's voice on the cast album; her "hiccups" got annoying on repeat listens. Thankfully, Blonsky's voice is smoother and less affected.
Actually, everyone sounds great on the album. Former hip hop diva Queen Latifah continues to amaze with her legit singing, particularly on "I Know Where I've Been". And who knew James Marsden could sing so well? Even Zac Efron proves he's got the pipes, considering he didn't in High School Musical. The jury is still out on John Travolta's casting as Edna, the mother of all mothers. I'll wait to see the movie before I comment on his performance, but I will say that I like his Danny Zuko-like grooves during the show-stopping finale, "You Can't Stop the Beat" (just try sitting still during that one).
Other songs cut for the movie include "The Big Dollhouse" (good riddance), "The Madison" and "Cooties" (which does get a modern house-style mix on the album), replaced by one song ("The New Girl in Town"), which was written for but cut from the Broadway show, and two brand new numbers written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (the two new songs will be eligible for the "Best Original Song" Oscar). "Ladies' Choice" is an Elvis style ditty for Link Larkin (Efron) and "Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)" is performed by Latifah, Blonsky, Efron and Elijah Kelly (who plays Seaweed) over the end credits. When I first heard the title of the latter, it sounded like it would be similar to "I Know Where I've Been"; far from it, it is an upbeat toe-tapper that will have you dancing out of the movie theater come this weekend.
Click here to buy the Hairspray soundtrack album
from Amazon.com.
2 comments:
Kirby,
"New Girl in Town" will not be elligible for the Oscar since it was written originally for the Broadway show. A best song needs to be written specifically for the movie to be eligible. That is why "The Rose" was inelligible for an Oscar in 1979. Amanda McBroom had written and sung it publically before the movie was ever produced. While three new songs written for "Dreamgirls" could get nominated.
BTW Dean Pitchford won the 1979 Oscar for the very first song he ever wrote, "Fame". He went on to write the screenplay and all the lyrics for "Footloose", then the musical for Broadway. He got two Oscar nominations for that film. And originally the character of Ren played by Kevin Bacon was openly gay as id Dean but Paramount would not allow that. I wonder if it will go back to that in the re-make.
Thanks for catching that! I did know that but I didn't make it clear in the original post that I only meant the two new songs would be Oscar eligible. (And let's hope they're nominated, I'd love to see them performed on the show.) I've made the correction.
I did not know that about the gay angle for the original "Footloose", but not surprised that Paramount balked.
And unfortunately I doubt that it will get changed for the remake. But maybe they could make the boy who couldn't dance gay - that would be an interesting way to switch it up!
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