And director Adam Shankman manages to do all that while keeping the show true to itself.

NPR: Big Hair, Bouncy Moves, Tons of Bawlmer Charm

Director Adam Shankman takes an epoch rich in cheesiness and lays it on think and pungent.

NEWYORKER: Face the Music

Now, Adam Shankman's movie of the Broadway Hairspray is getting rave reviews in newspapers that would once have applauded Waters' imprisonment.

NPR: Hollywood's Musical 'Hairspray,' a Little Too Bouffant

Director Adam Shankman has several cheesy skeletons in his closet ("Cheaper by the Dozen 2, " for example) but he was a choreographer first, and it shows.

CNN: Review: 'Hairspray' rises high

The director of the movie, Adam Shankman, and the screenwriter, Leslie Dixon, have removed the traces of camp humor and Broadway blue that gave the stage show its happily knowing flavor.

NEWYORKER: Hairspray