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'Spray Onstage

John Waters' creation gets family-friendly in Fair Park

A A A Comments By John Freeman Thursday, Jun 12 2008

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If someone had told me when I was a teenager that in the future John Waters would be producing family entertainment, I would have laughed in their face like a mad hyena. Back then my favorite John Waters film was Pink Flamingos, which ends with a 300-pound transvestite eating a fresh serving of doggy droppings. Over the years, however, Waters' films became a bit more mainstream. The sleaze that he had become infamous for became more subtle with each film. By 1988, when his original film Hairspray was released, the filth had transformed into campy nostalgia. Still entertaining, but the days of Desperate Living and Female Trouble were gone. Waters still made great flicks, but now he had studio backing. It's the American dream: scrawny gay underground filmmaker becomes a success and gets rich. When I heard they were turning Hairspray into a Broadway musical, I was a little shocked. When I heard they were making the musical into a second movie it was too "meta" to comprehend. It's a strange trend, turning movies into musicals and then re-making the musicals into a second movie. Let's hope they never do that with Face/Off. Come enjoy the nostalgic glory of Hairspray at the Fair Park Music Hall Tuesday through June 29. Visit ticketmaster.com for info.
June 24-29, 2008