Continuity mistake: During "Ladies Choice", in a wide shot Corny Collins has his arms by his side, grooving. In the next closeup his arm are spread out wide.
Continuity mistake: At the end of "You Can't Stop the Beat," the first angle is of Tracy and Link, and then Penny and Seaweed come down a space that the Dancers make them. At one point the Dancers are almost up and then in the next shot, the Dancers are bent down and are coming up again.
Other mistake: In the scene where you first see Tracy in class, one of the boys speaks and the subtitles reads," Ms. Whimsy, I can't see the board again." When Tracy says it, the subtitle reads Wimsey.
Revealing mistake: During "You're Timeless To Me," It shows the house lights on. In the very end of the song, when Wilbur blows out the candle, it is pitch black, but the house lights should still be on.
Character mistake: When Tracy's mom enters Motormouth Maybelle's place she is surprised to see her daughter. When she calls to her she says, "Tracy Edna Turnband" instead of "Turnblad."
Continuity mistake: In "Welcome to the 60s" where they enter Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway and Edna is given the contract, she switches her purse to her other hand. Then the camera angle switches from Edna to Mr. Pinky and then back again. The second time, she switches her purse again.
Factual error: During "good morning Baltimore" number, streetcars are seen passing behind several times. However, they wear the red and cream livery of Toronto (where it was filmed), when they should be yellow.
Continuity mistake: When Inez is singing in "Run and tell that", Link's arms are going from being crossed to hanging down between the shots.
Continuity mistake: When Tracy stops to sing at the music store, the lights are on and people are inside. In the next shot, when Tracy runs across the street, the store is dark.
Answer: First I need to explain that the Apollo Theater, an amazing music venue, is in upper Manhattan (NYC), in the predominantly black neighborhood of Harlem. The movie 'Hairspray' takes place in 1962, and at that point in time very few white musical artists had performed at the Apollo (between 1950s and early 60s), and those who did were famous rock-and-roll musicians, such as Buddy Holly and the Crickets (1957). Now as for Doris Day, by 1962 she was a lovely popular American actress/singer, who, as the saying goes, was "as white as white bread", and to imagine someone like Doris Day appearing on stage at the Apollo Theater is an amusing incongruity and just not quite right. So the words "without love, life is Doris Day at the Apollo," means life would just not be right at all without love.
Super Grover ★
Thank you. My director is making our cast look up stuff we don't know. So as Penny I felt like I needed to know so thank you for cleaning that up for me.
I hope you have fun playing Penny, and that your entire cast and crew enjoy putting on your stage production of Hairspray. Break a leg, sweetie.
Super Grover ★