50 Fun Facts About Hairspray

Which actor needed four hours of makeup to play Tracy's mother Edna in the 2007 film Hairspray?

John Travolta wore a padded suit that also hid his beard, so stubble never grew through his makeup by midday. Studio executives had first pictured a comedian in the part.

Hairspray is set in 1962 in which East Coast city, where the 1988 original was also filmed?

Baltimore appears for real only in the 2007 film's opening shots, because that version was shot in Canada. The story's TV dance party was modelled on a real local programme.

Which teen star was first judged "too Disney" to play Link Larkin in the 2007 film Hairspray?

Zac Efron won the part after the director's sister, an executive producer, argued he would bring in a big teen crowd. He was fresh from High School Musical.

Aretha Franklin was considered for Motormouth Maybelle, but who played her in the 2007 film Hairspray?

Queen Latifah had already appeared in Chicago for the same producers and acted for the same director in Bringing Down the House. Her Maybelle leads the film's protest march.

In the 2007 film, which character is crowned Miss Teenage Hairspray after a late surge of votes?

Little Inez takes the crown, which integrates The Corny Collins Show on live television. On stage it is Tracy who wins the title instead.

Which pop star played Tracy's best friend Penny in the 2016 live TV broadcast of Hairspray?

Ariana Grande was named the broadcast's most valuable player by Variety's critic, in a cast that included several Broadway veterans. The special drew just over nine million viewers.

Link Larkin, the singing heartthrob of Hairspray, was based in part on which rock and roll star?

Elvis Presley is the model for Link, a mildly vain crooner who skips the protest march because talent scouts are coming to hear him sing.

How often are Black teenagers allowed to dance on The Corny Collins Show at the start of Hairspray?

Once a month is all the show's bosses allow, on a special edition hosted by Motormouth Maybelle. In the 2007 film even that is cancelled, and Tracy proposes a protest march.

Penny's finale dress in the 2007 Hairspray is made from bedroom curtains in a nod to which musical?

The Sound of Music has Maria cut play clothes for the von Trapp children from old curtains, and Penny's dress copies the trick. The same curtains hang in her bedroom earlier in the film.

Edna's dancing in the 2007 Hairspray was modelled on hippo ballerinas from which Disney film?

Fantasia's hippos pirouette through the Dance of the Hours, and the director wanted Edna to move just as lightly despite her bulk.

Which actress ended a five-year screen absence as villain Velma Von Tussle in the 2007 Hairspray?

Michelle Pfeiffer had already shot Stardust, but Hairspray reached cinemas three weeks sooner and so became her comeback.

Which actor won the role of Tracy's father Wilbur over Billy Crystal in the 2007 film Hairspray?

Christopher Walken was put forward by the star playing his wife Edna, and the two share a duet in which Wilbur apologises to her.

Hugh Jackman and Joey McIntyre lost the part of Corny Collins in the 2007 Hairspray to which actor?

James Marsden plays Corny as a progressive who fights the segregation imposed on his own programme. Jackman had been his co-star in the X-Men films.

Which Nickelodeon star plays Penny Pingleton, Tracy's shy best friend, in the 2007 film Hairspray?

Amanda Bynes was one of the few established film stars cast among the teenagers. Her Penny ends up tied to a bed by a furious mother.

Which actress, who had worked with the director on The Pacifier, plays Amber in the 2007 Hairspray?

Brittany Snow got the part of Tracy's rival partly because another contender was about to start filming the TV series Heroes.

Which actress plays Prudy Pingleton, who ties her daughter to a bed, in the 2007 film Hairspray?

Allison Janney plays Prudy as a strict fundamentalist who reports Tracy to the police. Her husband is in prison for a crime the film never names.

Nikki Blonsky was working at which ice cream chain when she won the lead in the 2007 film Hairspray?

Cold Stone Creamery was the day job of a 17-year-old with no professional acting or singing credits. She was picked from more than 1,100 hopefuls at open casting calls.

Elijah Kelley plays which Hairspray character, who teaches Tracy dance moves and falls for Penny?

Seaweed Stubbs is Motormouth Maybelle's son, and the steps he shows Tracy win her a place on television. Kelley got the part through an audition contest.

Who played Tracy's father in the 1988 Hairspray and the Hefty Hideaway's owner in the 2007 film?

Jerry Stiller came back nearly two decades on as the plus-size boutique owner who hires Tracy as his spokesgirl and gives Edna a makeover.

Where at school does Tracy meet the Black dancers who teach her new moves in the 2007 Hairspray?

Detention is where Tracy lands for skipping class to audition, and the dancing she finds there changes her luck. In the 1988 original the meeting happens in special education classes.

Who wrote and directed the 1988 Hairspray and pops up as a flasher in the 2007 film's opening song?

John Waters told the remake's director not to copy either his film or the stage show but to do his own thing. He had played a quack psychiatrist in the original.

Which drag performer played both Edna Turnblad and a bigoted TV boss in the 1988 film Hairspray?

Divine had hoped to play Tracy as well as her mother, but the distributor talked the director out of it. It was his last film released in his lifetime.

Which future talk show host made her film debut as Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film Hairspray?

Ricki Lake's own hair was used for the part's big styles, and she returned for the 2007 remake in a cameo as a talent agent.

Which rock singer played Velma Von Tussle opposite Sonny Bono in the 1988 film Hairspray?

Debbie Harry was also meant to perform songs for the film, but her label Sire objected, so the Blondie singer only acted.

Which actor won a Tony as Broadway's first Edna and returned for the 2016 live Hairspray telecast?

Harvey Fierstein also wrote the 2016 teleplay himself, adapting the stage script for television. He sang a brief cameo over the 2007 film's end credits too.

Which future Glee star originated the role of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway in 2002?

Matthew Morrison stayed with the show until January 2004. Five years later, in 2009, Glee made him famous as teacher Will Schuester.

Which West End singer won an Olivier Award as Edna in London's first production of Hairspray?

Michael Ball won Best Actor in a Musical for the part in 2008 and came back to it for the 2021 West End revival.

Which choreographer directed the 2007 film Hairspray and appears in it as a talent agent?

Adam Shankman drilled his cast and more than 150 dancers through weeks of rehearsals before shooting began.

Who composed the songs for Hairspray, writing the words with his partner Scott Wittman?

Marc Shaiman agreed to the project only if Wittman could join him, and their three-song demo convinced the producer she had the right team.

Corny Collins's dance party in Hairspray was based on which real teen TV programme?

The Buddy Deane Show aired in place of American Bandstand in its home city, where the local ABC affiliate blacked out the network programme. Its host cameos as a newsman in the 1988 film.

Which hairspray brand, owned by Harriman Spritzer, sponsors The Corny Collins Show in Hairspray?

Ultra Clutch's owner would rather keep the programme segregated, but he follows public opinion whenever it lifts sales.

What kind of business does Wilbur Turnblad run below the family apartment in the 2007 Hairspray?

A joke shop called the Hardy-Har Hut is where Velma corners Wilbur, and Edna walks in at the worst possible moment.

In Hairspray, Motormouth Maybelle throws a party at which kind of business she runs on North Avenue?

A record store suits Maybelle's other job as a rhythm and blues radio DJ. It is where she persuades a nervous Edna to stay and take pride in herself.

Where does Penny hide Tracy from the police after the protest march in the 2007 film Hairspray?

A fallout shelter at the Pingleton home hides Tracy only until Penny's mother discovers her and turns her in. A ballad Tracy sang while locked in was cut from the film.

Hairspray is set in the United States, but the 2007 film was shot mainly in which Canadian city?

Toronto was chosen because it had the studio space a big musical needs, and some of the 1960s signs put up for the shoot stayed on the street afterwards.

Before reaching Broadway in 2002, the musical Hairspray had its tryout run in which West Coast city?

Seattle audiences saw numbers that never reached New York, including a spoof road-safety advert called Blood on the Pavement.

Hairspray opened on Broadway in August 2002 and ran for more than six years at which venue?

The Neil Simon Theatre required a minimum number of musicians, so a few of the actors mimed on instruments to make up the count.

Hairspray's opening weekend, the best yet for a Broadway adaptation, fell in 2008 to which film?

The film that edged ahead by about $0.3 million was Mamma Mia! Hairspray still went on to take more than $200 million worldwide.

Which vintage dance from the 1988 film and stage show made way for a new song in the 2007 Hairspray?

The Madison still sneaks into the film, because some of its steps are worked into the choreography of the finale.

Tracy's garbage truck ride in the 2007 Hairspray pays tribute to which Barbra Streisand musical?

Funny Girl also inspired Tracy's new hairstyle during her mother's makeover number, one of several classic films the director quoted.

In the 1988 film Hairspray, Tracy collects her pageant crown in a gown painted with which insects?

Cockroaches on the dress answer Amber's lie that Tracy's hairdo was infested with them, and Tracy caps it with a dance called The Bug.

In the 1988 film Hairspray, what does Franklin Von Tussle hide in his wife Velma's towering wig?

A bomb meant for use if Amber lost goes off by itself, and the burning wig lands on Amber's head.

Which American network aired a live Hairspray in December 2016, the fourth of its live TV musicals?

NBC staged a fair amount of it outdoors on the Universal Studios backlot, with members of the public as extras in the street scenes.

Which song does the full company sing to close Hairspray, both on stage and in the 2007 film?

You Can't Stop the Beat was the number London's cast took to the 2007 Royal Variety Performance. In the film, steps from an older dance craze are woven into its routine.

Which song does Motormouth Maybelle sing as she leads the protest march in the 2007 film Hairspray?

I Know Where I've Been nearly never reached the stage, because almost everyone involved protested that it was too sad and too preachy.

Which Hairspray song accompanies Edna Turnblad's makeover on her first trip outdoors in years?

Welcome to the 60's has Tracy coaxing her mother along as her agent, and the outing ends with both in new outfits from a plus-size boutique.

During which song in the 2007 Hairspray does Link sing to a photograph of Tracy that comes to life?

Without Love borrows the idea from an old MGM musical in which a young Judy Garland sings to a photo of Clark Gable.

Which song cut from the 2007 Hairspray is sung over its credits by three actresses who played Tracy?

Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now was dropped because filming it seemed to demand a three-way split screen, which the director wanted to avoid.

Which duet do Edna and Wilbur Turnblad share in Hairspray, used in the 2007 film as an apology?

(You're) Timeless to Me became Wilbur's way of making up with Edna after she caught him in a compromising position with Velma.

A cancelled sequel to the 2007 Hairspray would have sent Tracy into which 1960s music craze?

The British Invasion, the hippie movement and the Vietnam War were to be its backdrop, but the film's Edna declined to return and the project was dropped in 2010.