Show Synopsis:
Tracy Turnblad wants to be a famous entertainer, and watches The Corny Collins Show, a teenage variety show, every day after school. She goes to an open audition against her mother's wishes and gets mocked and rejected by the show's producer Velma for being overweight, but she meets heartthrob Link Larkin in the process. Back at school, she becomes friends with Seaweed Stubbs, whose mother Motormouth Maybelle hosts the Corny Collins Show's "Negro Day" once a month. Seaweed helps Tracy impress Corny Collins and get a spot on the show, and Tracy becomes a local star. Tracy's best friend Penny begins to fall in love with Seaweed, and he invites both of them and Link to a party at his mother's record shop, where everyone hatches a plan to protest the prejudiced standards of beauty on The Corny Collins Show. The protestors are arrested, and while most of the women are bailed out, Velma has rigged it so that Tracy remains in jail. Link breaks her out and declares his love for her. The protestors plan an even bigger protest to desegregate The Corny Collins Show forever at the Miss Teenage Hairspray compeition. They are successful at breaking down the barriers, and Tracy is crowned Miss Teenage Hairspray.
Character:
Velma Von Tussle, a former beauty queen in her 40s pushing her teenage daughter into the spotlight; prejudiced, rich, and controlling; self-absorbed.
Song Context:
Tracy has come into the studio to audition for The Corny Collins Show and Velma is appalled that a girl of her weight would dream of being on a television show. She reminisces about winning a local beauty pageant as a teenager when being talented and conventionally beautiful was the only way to stardom.
Fun Facts:
1. This musical was based on the 1988 film Hairspray starring Rick Lake.
2. Steamed blue crabs are a traditional delicacy in Baltimore, and the Chesapeake Bay was the main source of blue crabs on the East Coast for many years. The writers have also admitted that there is a double entendre in the name referring to a certain sexually transmitted disease. 3. Pop star Brenda Carlisle played Velma on Broadway and in a BroadwayWorld.com interview, she described the character as "she's camp, she's awful, she's funny, she's desperate, she's seen better days. She's just hysterical."
"Oh, my god, how times have changed.
This girl's either blind or completely deranged,
Ah, but time seemed to halt
When I was Miss Baltimore Crabs.
Childhood dreams for me were cracked
When that damn Shirley Temple stole my frickin' act
But the crown's in the vault
From when I won Miss Baltimore Crabs.
Those poor runner-ups might still hold some grudges
They padded their cups but I screwed the judges.
Those broads thought they'd win if a plate they would spin
In their dance - not a chance!
'Cause I hit the stage, batons ablaze
While belting high C's and preparing souffles,
But that triple somersault
Was how I clinched Miss Baltimore Crabs!
I never drank one chocolate malt
No, no desserts for Miss Baltimore Crabs
I would say ""oy gevalt!""
If I wasn't Miss Baltimore Crabs
A tycoon I wed, so cuddly and funny-
The old fart dropped dead but left tons of money,
So I bought this station so all of the nation could see
Baby Amber and me!
First impressions can be tough
And when I saw you, I knew it!
If your size weren't enough,
Your last answer just blew it
And so, my dear, so short and stout,
You'll never be in so we're kicking you out.
You can't get past me kid, but it isn't your fault
It's hard to get rid of Miss Baltimore Crabs
Crabs, Crabs, Crabs, Crabs."