JOHN TRAVOLTA STARS IN HAIRSPRAY

JOHN TRAVOLTA IN DRAG

In the wee hours of Saturday morning on the soundstages of the new movie version of Hairspray, the fat lady sang, to a pre-recorded track. And then it was over for John Travolta. The Grease star wrapped his return to the musical genre. Travolta said goodbye to the generously proportioned Edna Turnblad — the same role created by the late Divine in the 1988 John Waters film and by Tony winner Harvey Fierstein in the smash Broadway show. Travolta's version is expected in theaters next summer. "It's good," said the exhausted actor of finally being freed of Edna's cumbersome body. "The effect that I caused is fun and all, but it's a lot of work, man." Travolta wanted to make Edna sexier and real, not a campy drag act. That required four hours of prep time before putting in eight hours of performing in padding and silicone prosthetics. "You feel like you are coming out of a prison. It's such a relief to get air again to the skin and breathe again," he says. It's the first time in his long career that he has played a woman, save for doing Barbra Streisand on Saturday Night Live.