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Now recognized as one of today's greatest theater directors and winner of two Tony Awards-and director of this season's most acclaimed play, Democracy, by his frequent collaborator Michael Frayn-Michael Blakemore followed a unique path to success. In this book, he discusses his boyhood in Australia and his start in England as an actor-his life changed by a tour of Titus Andronicus with Laurence Olivier at the height of his powers-and continuing up to his first success as a director with A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. In recounting his early life, Blakemore provides "a pitch-perfect account of dreaming youth, driven, frustrated, and eventually deepened by a realistic love of the theatre" (David Hare).

In Hairspray, it's 1962--the fifties are out and change is in the air. Baltimore's Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion: to dance. She wins a spot on the local TV dance program, The Corny Collins Show, and overnight is transformed from an awkward overweight outsider into an irrespressible teen celebrity. But can a trendsetter in dance and fashion vanquish the program's reigning blond princess, win the heart of heartthrob Link Larkin, and integrate a television show without denting her 'do? Only in Hairspray!

Based on John Waters's 1988 film, the musical comedy Hairspray opened on Broadway in August 2002 to rave reviews. Hairspray: The Roots includes the libretto of the show--along with hilarious anecdotes from the authors, to say nothing of dance step diagrams and full-color bouffant wigs to copy and cut out--along with all the creative energy, brilliant color, and full-out emotion that have made the musical "a great big, gorgeous hit . . . [that] is a triumph on all levels" (Clive Barnes, The New York Post).