Yeah baby.  We’re one day away from the last Purple Friday of the season (for you non-Balmer folks, that means it’s the last day we’re “allowed” to show up to work sportin’ a killer amount of purple.)  So let’s have some fun after yesterday’s Debbie Downer of a post.  Hey what can I say; I’m a sucker for amazeballs writing….

Today we peep at local-boy-made-groovy John Waters’ most well known work: Hairspray.  It’s a movie!  It’s a musical!  It’s a movie musical!  Woot!

Why do I love Hairspray?  Well, it’s a great story about how fun it can be here in Charm City.  It’s by John Waters, who is awesome.  It’s a feel-good film that shows how acceptance can triumph over all.  And these films are chock-a-block with cool actors too:

* Hairspray 1988: Sonny Bono, Deborah Harry, Ricki Lake, and of course Baltimore darlings Mink Stole and the glorious Divine!

* Hairspray, the Broadway musical: Marissa Winokur, Harvey Fierstein, The Closer‘s Corey Reynolds, and Glee’s Matthew Morrison

* Hairspray 2007: Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Christopher Walken, and Zac Efron

Phew.  That’s a lot of well-known folks, and no wonder.  The basic story — about a young girl who just wants to dance on a local dance-hall TV show — was also about compassion, ending bigotry and trying to right the wrongs of social injustice.  The original film is a camp classic, and though some were shocked when it made the move to Broadway (though I always thought the campiness of the film lent itself perfectly to the stage), Hairspray the musical won a slew of Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Of course, Hollywood loves a good (cash cow) story, and so Hairspray the Broadway musical, which was based on Hairspray the film, became…Hairspray, the big-budget musical film.  Got that?

So tease up your hair, pull on that miniskirt (or caftan, it’s all good), and sing “Good Morning Baltimore”!