And, unlike Fierstein, he can sing and dance. On Broadway, Harvey Fierstein played Edna like a drag role, but Travolta gives her dignity and grace. But you gradually get used to the costume because Travolta vanishes so completely into it. Frankly, the sight of John Travolta made me queasy – as Tracy’s mother, Edna, his Michelin Man fat-suit get-up is off-putting, particularly in the cheek region. Tracy is a tricky character to put at the center of a show because she’s essentially undramatic – she doesn’t change a bit from the beginning to the end – but Blonsky is so energetic and upbeat that you love her on sight. Newcomer Nikki Blonsky, who plays Tracy, is a doll. Or a Rockette,” says Tracy, and she’s sorta both: a bundle of energy who has more fun than any movie character this year other than Donkey in “Shrek 3” and who fights for her African-American pals to appear on the TV show more than just once a month (“Negro Day’s the best. “Hairspray” originated with the John Waters comedy about dance-crazed Baltimore teenager Tracy Turnblad, who dreams of integrating a ’60s dancing-to-the-hits TV show. And – climaxed by “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” the catchiest song written for Broadway since the score for “Guys and Dolls” 50 years ago – they are tunes you actually want to hear after you leave the theater. It assumes we’re all at home in a world where folks burst into song because their emotions are too big for mere words. Unlike such recent hits as “Chicago” and “Dreamgirls,” it doesn’t feel compelled to apologize for its songs, to explain why people suddenly have jazz hands and an orchestra. The downside to “Hairspray”? Sprained toes, from all the tapping they’ll be doing.īright, buoyant “Hairspray” is an unapologetically old-fashioned musical.

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