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By this point, we probably don't need to tell you that John Travolta plays a woman – a rather plus-sized woman – in Hairspray. But we do need to tell you that this is a must-see movie for boomers. While audiences of all ages will be rolling in the aisles, there are many levels of meaning to this movie that only boomers can fully appreciate.

Simply put, Hairspray is great entertainment because of brilliant casting, over-the-top acting, Oscar-quality production design and choreography reminiscent of that American classic, Singing in the Rain.

I really didn't expect to give this strong an endorsement for Hairspray, because even though I'm a fan of the John Waters 1988 cult classic original, I really couldn't see how (or even why) it could be remade into a mainstream movie. But then, I couldn't see how (or why) it could be made into a Tony-Award-winning musical either.

Despite the fact that they are so uniquely American, musicals have never been one of my favorite genres. And since there's so few of them these days, watching one can be challenging. I have to admit that for the first 5-10 minutes of Hairspray, I found myself thinking, "Oh no, not another song and dance number." But once the newness wore off, I found myself totally caught up by this marvelous production and realizing that there is still a lot of life in this genre.

The movie tells the tale of Tracy Turnblad, an overweight and totally charming Baltimore teenager obsessed with getting on The Corny Collins Show, the local afternoon TV dance show for teenagers. Set in 1962 when Jack and Jackie are still in the White House ("It's the New Frontier" as Tracy reminds us), the talented but hardly telegenic Tracy is racially blind in a segregated city. Even television is segregated, with one day a week of the Corny Collins Show designated as "Negro Day."

Newcomer Nikki Blonsky plays Tracy with an infectious enthusiasm that demonstrates how she landed the part. Christopher Walken plays Wilbur, Tracy's father, with a face as deadpan as Buster Keaton's. The proprietor of a joke shop underneath the family's apartment, he is totally dedicated to his wife. When the movie's evil witch Velma von Tussle (played by a very thin but still alluring Michelle Pfeiffer) tries to seduce him, he not only resists he's not even aware of the seduction.

In one of Hollywood's greatest strokes of casting genius, John Travolta plays Edna Turnblad, Tracy's mother who hides her weight from public view running a hand laundry in the family's second floor apartment. "Tracy, I haven't left this house in years. The neighbors haven't seen me since I was size ten" is her response to Tracy's attempt to coax her outside. Travolta plays the role straight; this isn't Tootsie's Dustin Hoffman as a man in drag – this is John Travolta playing a woman. Travolta pulls it off so perfectly that you totally believe it, even though you still know it's Travolta somewhere underneath. If Travolta doesn't get an Oscar nomination for this role, the make-up artist should.

Besides the casting, the movie owes its success to the wonderful choreography. When the all-black high school detention class marches outside, they perform a number that is almost as memorable as Gene Kelley singing and dancing in the rain. Equally unforgettable – if not unbelievable – are the gravity defying dance scenes performed by Edna-Travolta. Only the star of Saturday Night Fever could pull this one off.

Why did we pick this movie? Not just because it's such great entertainment, but because it's a special movie for boomers. It's a faithful recreation of the '60s that will jar every boomer's memory bank: the late afternoon teen dance show, after school detention, the cot in the school nurse's office and the family fallout shelter (but this defeatist family's shelter comes complete with a Russian language dictionary). And while the movie ends with a joyful vision of racial harmony that might seem out of sync with today's less than perfect reality, it still reminds us of how bad some things really were back in the early '60s.

Want more? See which other movies we recommend.