Arts & Culture

Thirty Years of Hairspray

Here’s how to celebrate the film’s anniversary

Photo: Tim Bower


In February 1988, filmmaker John Waters introduced the world to Tracy Turnblad, the “pleasantly plump” and bighearted teenage dancer, in his cult classic Hairspray. Here are three ways to celebrate the film’s  thirtieth anniversary.


Sing Along

Although the hip-shaking songs originated with the 2002 musical, that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate the 1988 film with a sing-along. On February 24 at the Historic Cocoa Village Playhouse in Cocoa, Florida, tease up a beehive and sing along with the 2007 movie remake.


See the Play

Early this year, a new production will debut abroad—warming hearts across the United Kingdom. Closer to home, the musical hits the stage at North Carolina State’s University Theatre in Raleigh (February 21–25) and the Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown (April 13–15; 20–22).


Get to Know John Waters

This Filthy World is John Waters’s one-man vaudeville show. See it live at Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on February 24. The king of cinematic camp will also host his very own adult summer camp in September, and the Baltimore Museum of Art is putting together a retrospective of his work, opening in October.


Caroline Sanders Clements is the associate editor at Garden & Gun and oversees the magazine’s annual Made in the South Awards. Since joining G&G’s editorial team in 2017, the Athens, Georgia, native has written and edited stories about artists, architects, historians, musicians, tomato farmers, James Beard Award winners, and one mixed martial artist. She lives in North Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, Sam, and dog, Bucket.


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