Hairspray has about 20 musical numbers in two acts, running from the opening “Good Morning Baltimore” to the finale “You Can’t Stop the Beat”, and together they tell Tracy Turnblad’s fight to integrate a 1962 Baltimore TV dance show. Here is every song in order, who sings it, what it means, and how the 2007 movie and NBC’s Hairspray Live! changed the song list.
Hairspray has music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, and a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on John Waters’ 1988 film. After a tryout at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre, it opened on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre on August 15, 2002, and ran until January 4, 2009, for 2,642 performances (IBDB). It won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score and Best Direction, plus acting Tonys for Marissa Jaret Winokur (Tracy), Harvey Fierstein (Edna) and Dick Latessa (Wilbur).
What songs are in Hairspray the musical?
Hairspray has about 20 musical numbers across two acts, including reprises. The score is a loving pastiche of early-1960s American pop: girl-group harmonies, rhythm and blues, Motown-style soul, gospel, novelty dance crazes and a touch of Broadway brass. That mix is the point. The story is about a white, working-class Baltimore teenager who loves the Black music she hears on the radio and on “Negro Day” on her favorite TV show, and who decides the dance floor should be shared by everyone.
The best-known songs are the bookends. “Good Morning Baltimore” is Tracy’s sunrise wake-up anthem, and “You Can’t Stop the Beat” is the full-company finale. In between are comic showstoppers (“Welcome to the 60’s”, “Big, Blonde and Beautiful”), a soft-shoe love duet for Tracy’s parents (“(You’re) Timeless to Me”) and the show’s emotional peak, Motormouth Maybelle’s civil-rights gospel number “I Know Where I’ve Been”.
What is the Hairspray song list in order?
This is the running order of the original Broadway production. A few short numbers (“Velma’s Revenge” and two reprises) are not on the original cast album, so your recording may skip them.
Act 1
| # | Song | Who sings | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Good Morning Baltimore | Tracy and ensemble | Tracy greets her city and dreams of dancing on TV |
| 2 | The Nicest Kids in Town | Corny Collins and the Council Kids | We meet The Corny Collins Show and its all-white dance regulars |
| 3 | Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now | Edna, Tracy, Prudy, Penny, Velma, Amber | Three daughters argue with three mothers about growing up |
| 4 | I Can Hear the Bells | Tracy | Tracy imagines a whole romance with teen idol Link Larkin |
| 5 | (The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs | Velma | The scheming station manager sizes up Tracy at the audition |
| 6 | The Nicest Kids in Town (Reprise) | Corny and Council Kids | Tracy joins the show and becomes an overnight star |
| 7 | It Takes Two | Link, Tracy and men | Link croons a ballad; Tracy melts |
| 8 | Velma’s Revenge | Velma | Velma vows to get rid of Tracy |
| 9 | Welcome to the 60’s | Tracy, Edna, the Dynamites, Mr. Pinky | Tracy coaxes her shut-in mother out of the house for a makeover |
| 10 | Run and Tell That! | Seaweed, Little Inez and the Motormouth Kids | Seaweed sings about pride and prejudice in a dance-party number |
| 11 | Big, Blonde and Beautiful | Motormouth Maybelle, Little Inez, Tracy, Edna, Wilbur | Motormouth celebrates big women and leads the plan to march on the station |
Act 2
| # | Song | Who sings | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | The Big Dollhouse | The Matron, Edna, Velma, Tracy, Amber, Penny, Motormouth, Little Inez, women | The protesters land in a women’s prison |
| 13 | Good Morning Baltimore (Reprise) | Tracy | Alone in a cell, Tracy wonders whether she has lost Link |
| 14 | (You’re) Timeless to Me | Edna and Wilbur | Tracy’s parents reaffirm their love in a vaudeville duet |
| 15 | (You’re) Timeless to Me (Reprise) | Edna and Wilbur | A short return of the duet |
| 16 | Without Love | Tracy, Link, Penny, Seaweed | Two jailbreaks lead to two interracial teen romances |
| 17 | I Know Where I’ve Been | Motormouth Maybelle and company | A gospel anthem about the long road toward civil rights |
| 18 | (It’s) Hairspray | Corny Collins and Council Kids | A sponsor-pleasing jingle for the Miss Teenage Hairspray pageant |
| 19 | Cooties | Amber and Council Kids | Amber’s catty pageant number |
| 20 | You Can’t Stop the Beat | Full company | Tracy and friends take over the live broadcast and integrate the show |
Want more context on these songs? The two-act setup is the same one used by our Mamma Mia songs explained and Wicked songs explained guides, if you like comparing how big crowd-pleasing scores are built.
Who sings each song in Hairspray?
The score spreads the big moments around the cast more generously than most musicals. Here is who carries what:
- Tracy Turnblad leads the show: “Good Morning Baltimore”, “I Can Hear the Bells”, “Welcome to the 60’s” and the first section of “You Can’t Stop the Beat”. Marissa Jaret Winokur won a Tony for the role on Broadway.
- Edna Turnblad, Tracy’s mother, is traditionally played by a man, following Divine in the 1988 film. Harvey Fierstein originated her on Broadway. Edna sings in “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now” and “Welcome to the 60’s”, and duets with her husband in “(You’re) Timeless to Me”.
- Wilbur Turnblad, the joke-shop owner who adores his wife, shares “Timeless to Me” and joins “Big, Blonde and Beautiful”.
- Link Larkin, the show’s heartthrob, gets “It Takes Two” and a verse of “Without Love”.
- Penny Pingleton, Tracy’s sheltered best friend, falls for Seaweed in “Without Love” and gets a showcase verse in the finale.
- Seaweed J. Stubbs leads “Run and Tell That!”, one of the score’s most exciting dance numbers.
- Motormouth Maybelle, the record-shop owner who hosts the show’s monthly “Negro Day”, has the two biggest voice moments: “Big, Blonde and Beautiful” and “I Know Where I’ve Been”.
- Velma Von Tussle, the producer and former beauty queen, sings “Miss Baltimore Crabs” and “Velma’s Revenge”; her daughter Amber gets “Cooties”.
- Corny Collins, the host, sings “The Nicest Kids in Town” and the “(It’s) Hairspray” jingle.
What is ‘You Can’t Stop the Beat’ about?
“You Can’t Stop the Beat” is the finale, and it is the whole show’s argument set to music. It happens during the live Miss Teenage Hairspray broadcast, after Tracy and her friends have broken out of jail and come up with a plan to get onto the air. Tracy, Link, Penny, Seaweed, Edna, Wilbur, Motormouth and the rest of the company each take a verse. The image at the heart of the song is that change, like a song or the turning of the Earth, can’t be stopped once it has started.
Musically, it is built to keep rising. The song grows as more characters join, and it gives everyone a turn: the teens, the parents, and finally Motormouth, who has the biggest sustained notes. By the end, Tracy has won the crown, declared The Corny Collins Show integrated, and even the villains have been pulled onto the dance floor. It is a joyful ending, though the show doesn’t pretend everything is solved; “I Know Where I’ve Been” a few minutes earlier reminds the audience how long the real struggle was.
You can watch a 2016 TV performance of the finale in our post on “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray Live!, and the jailbreak duet in “Without Love” from Hairspray Live!
Want to play these songs yourself? Hairspray’s score sits on simple early-1960s rock-and-roll and soul chord patterns, so it is a fun way to learn rhythm piano, from the bouncy “Good Morning Baltimore” groove to the gospel chords of “I Know Where I’ve Been”. Try Pianoforall.
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How are the songs different in the Hairspray movie and Hairspray Live!?
There are now three versions of the musical Hairspray that fans meet most often: the Broadway show, the 2007 movie musical, and NBC’s live TV broadcast from 2016. Each made changes to the song list.
The 2007 movie
Adam Shankman’s 2007 film starred Nikki Blonsky as Tracy, John Travolta as Edna, Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma, Christopher Walken as Wilbur, Queen Latifah as Motormouth, Zac Efron as Link, Amanda Bynes as Penny and Elijah Kelley as Seaweed. The main song changes:
- Cut: “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now” was dropped from the story and heard only over the end credits, sung by Ricki Lake (the original 1988 Tracy), Marissa Jaret Winokur (Broadway’s Tracy) and Nikki Blonsky.
- Cut: “The Big Dollhouse”, because in the film Tracy doesn’t go to jail with the others.
- Reduced: “It Takes Two” survives only as a short tag, and “Cooties” is heard as instrumental background, with a pop cover in the credits.
- Added: “Ladies’ Choice”, a new song for Link, and “Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)”, heard over the end credits.
- Restored: “The New Girl in Town”, a song cut during the Seattle tryout, came back as a number for Amber and the Council girls.
Hairspray Live! (NBC, 2016)
NBC broadcast Hairspray Live! on December 7, 2016, from the Universal Studios lot, directed by Kenny Leon with Alex Rudzinski. Newcomer Maddie Baillio, chosen from an open call, played Tracy, with Harvey Fierstein returning as Edna (Playbill). The cast also included Jennifer Hudson (Motormouth), Martin Short (Wilbur), Kristin Chenoweth (Velma), Ariana Grande (Penny), Dove Cameron (Amber), Garrett Clayton (Link), Ephraim Sykes (Seaweed) and Derek Hough (Corny Collins). Fierstein also adapted the book for television.
The live version mixed stage and film. It kept “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now”, “It Takes Two” and “Velma’s Revenge” from Broadway, borrowed “Ladies’ Choice” from the movie, and ended with “Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)” after “You Can’t Stop the Beat”, sung by Grande, Hudson and the company. “The Big Dollhouse” was dropped. For many younger fans, this is the version they know best, especially Ariana Grande’s verses in “Without Love” and the finale.
Which Hairspray cast recording should you hear first?
Start with the Original Broadway Cast Recording (2002). It has Winokur and Fierstein in the roles that won them Tonys, Laura Bell Bundy as Amber, Matthew Morrison as Link and Kerry Butler as Penny, and it is the closest to the show as written. Its one drawback is that a few short numbers are missing.
If you came to Hairspray through the movie, the 2007 soundtrack is the most polished studio sound and includes “Ladies’ Choice” and “Come So Far”. Queen Latifah’s “I Know Where I’ve Been” is a highlight. The Hairspray Live! audio is useful if you want the TV cast, but as a live broadcast it is rougher than either album.
A good listening plan: play the Broadway album in order once with the table above, then listen to the movie versions of “Ladies’ Choice” and “I Know Where I’ve Been” to hear how differently each version handles the same story.
Frequently asked questions
How many songs are in Hairspray?
The Broadway version has about 20 numbers, counting reprises: 11 in Act 1 and 9 in Act 2. The original cast album leaves out a few short ones, such as “Velma’s Revenge”.
What is the last song in Hairspray?
On stage, the final number is “You Can’t Stop the Beat”, sung by the full company. The 2007 film and Hairspray Live! add “Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)” at the very end.
Who sang ‘You Can’t Stop the Beat’ in Hairspray Live!?
The whole principal cast took part: Maddie Baillio, Garrett Clayton, Ariana Grande, Ephraim Sykes, Harvey Fierstein, Martin Short, Jennifer Hudson, Kristin Chenoweth and Dove Cameron, with the company.
Who wrote the music for Hairspray?
Marc Shaiman wrote the music, and he wrote the lyrics with Scott Wittman. The book is by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan.
Is Hairspray based on a movie?
Yes. The musical is based on John Waters’ 1988 film Hairspray, which starred Ricki Lake as Tracy and Divine as Edna. The 2007 movie is a film of the musical, not a remake of the 1988 original.
