"Hairspray" made Ricki Lake a star and spawned multiple adaptations, including Broadway and movie musicals. But that 1988 original is still the best by far, as sweet as it is subversive.

Hairspray is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John ... The musical's original Broadway ...