Hairspray (2002 Original Broadway Cast)
The cast recording for the Broadway musical ofJohn Waters's 1988 paeanto dance, music, big beautiful women, and integration is a sheer delight. It's wonderfully upbeat all the way through, with a classic feel that's in keeping with the story's setting in the early 1960s. The characters come alive in these songs, fromMarissa Jaret  Winokur's (Tracy Turnblad) opening lines in "Good Morning Baltimore"  to the stunningly upbeat finale, "You Can't Stop the Beat." The music is byMarc Shaiman,  whose recent projects includeSouth Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,  as well as a number of film soundtracks, and his compositions are  simultaneously solid and exuberant. Shaiman andScott Wittman's lyrics brim over with the unreserved passions and primary-color emotions that made the film so successful. Regardless of one's familiarity with the story or the stage production, it's hard to avoid the appeal of this recording; even the less cheerful songs are awash in bright colors, without disrespect for their subjects.--Genevieve Williams