Instead, director Jack O'Brien, choreographer Jerry Mitchell, set designer David Rockwell and costume designer William Ivey Long subtract the tacky camp of the original Waters' film and add some eye-catching, color-coordinating finesse that brought the original Broadway production 8 Tony wins.

Perhaps as a more vibrant reminder of how the so-called color music really crossed the racial lines and became mainstream without a white singer singing the lyrics, the stage musical features a trio of black women dressed glamorously in red evening dresses and opera-length red gloves (The Dynamites during "Welcome to the 60s"). They help Tracy's mother understand that fat can be fabulous when Tracy becomes the spokesmodel for Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway. This is a doubtful message for while Tracy and her mother are big and this production attempts to show them as beautiful, the Dynamites aren't big, but lean and lithe.

(To be fair, Motormouth Mabel later lets Mrs. Turnblad know that big is beautiful--black or white.)

But what remains in the stage musical, is the infectious spirit, fun-loving though sensitive look at adolescent high school love and popularity games and this spirit is readily evident in the touring show that is currently playing at the Pantages. The stage production also makes a point to wink at the male gender of the actor playing Edna Turnblad which wasn't true in the original movie.

Marissa Jaret Winokur, who won a Tony for her 2003 portrayal of Tracy Turnblad (with Harvey Fierstein in Divine's role), returns to role for the Los Angeles run with Bruce Vilanch as her mother. Vilanch is better known in Hollywood for his Emmy-award winning writing for the award shows: Oscars, the Emmys, the Tonys and the Grammys. When the musical movies to Segerstrom Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Keala Settle will play Tracy.

So go back to a time when mousse was just a dessert and not a hair control product, and the so-called colored music was of questionable taste.

Hairspray, Pantages theater, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 1 and 6 p.m. $27-$87. Though Sept. 5. Then moves to Orange County's Segerstrom Hall, October 12-24. www.hairsprayontour.com