Good Morning Baltimore (Reprise) Lyrics
Good Morning Baltimore (Reprise)
TRACYOh, oh, oh
I'm all alone
My heart has grown
But it's broken, too
This morning
Life was a Baltimore fairy tale
Now i can't make bail!
My mother's in shock
My father's in hock
I much prefer link's arms
To jailhouse cells
So link, please rescue me now
'Cause i love you
And this prison smells.
Link, hear the bells!
And get ready, Baltimore
There's a bright, brand-new
Day in store
Let me out so this dream's
Unfurled
I'll eat some breakfast,
Then change the world!
And i promise Baltimore
Once i cha-cha right out of
That door
The world's gonna wake up
And see
Link's in love with me!
Song Overview
Good Morning Baltimore (Reprise) is Tracy Turnblad’s quicksilver jailhouse soliloquy in Hairspray, a compact reset between Act II’s arrest-chaos and the jailbreak momentum to come. The performance on the Hairspray: Original Broadway Cast Recording (Sony Classical/Masterworks) is the canonical audio document and appears in Masterworks’ official “Provided to YouTube” posting.
The cast album dropped August 13, 2002, days after Broadway opening, with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman. That disc went on to win the 2003 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.
Review and Highlights
In under a minute, the reprise flips the opener’s buoyant hello into a quippy plea for release. Shaiman pares the groove down to a light two-step and lets the jokes jab - “this prison smells!” - before Tracy rallies with that classic Turnblad promise to “change the world.” It’s dramaturgically tidy: acknowledge the mess, re-ignite the engine.
Creation History
Written for the 2002 Broadway production and captured on the OBC sessions (recorded late June–early July 2002; released Aug 13), the reprise mirrors the show’s pop/doo-wop palette while compressing Tracy’s arc into a radio-sting length cue.
Song Meaning and Annotations
Plot
Everyone else has made bail after the Mother-Daughter Day fiasco; Tracy hasn’t. Alone in a Baltimore jail, she clocks the fallout - parents reeling, hair deflating, Link missing - then reclaims her optimism and aims it outward again. The reprise bridges from the Act II opener (“The Big Dollhouse”) toward the jailbreak-and-broadcast endgame.
Song Meaning
It’s a speed-run through resilience. The musical loves Tracy’s relentless forward tilt; this is the one moment where she admits the hurt, then chooses hope anyway. In a show about visibility and integration, her private pep talk doubles as a public credo - faith in community change, delivered with a wink and a cha-cha.
Annotations
No formal footnotes needed here - the text is its own wry commentary. But two touches matter musically: the bell-motif callback to the original “Good Morning Baltimore,” and the final rhyme chain re-seeding the endgame romance before the plot pivots back to activism.
Style & references
1962 pop sheen, trimmed orchestration, and a comic monologue’s pacing. It’s less a full song than an energized aside, which is why it lands so neatly on record and on stage.
Key Facts
- Artist: Marissa Jaret Winokur with the Original Broadway Cast of Hairspray
- Composer: Marc Shaiman
- Lyricist: Scott Wittman (with Shaiman)
- Album: Hairspray: Original Broadway Cast Recording
- Release date (album): August 13, 2002
- Label: Sony Classical / Masterworks Broadway
- YouTube official audio ID:
_zLPVoV58fQ - Notable adaptation: Hairspray Live! (2016) restored a filmed reprise with Maddie Baillio as Tracy.
Questions and Answers
- Who wrote “Good Morning Baltimore (Reprise)”?
- Music by Marc Shaiman; lyrics by Scott Wittman with Shaiman.
- Who sings it on the Original Broadway Cast album?
- Marissa Jaret Winokur, as Tracy Turnblad.
- Is there an official upload?
- Yes - Masterworks Broadway’s “Provided to YouTube” posting features the OBC cut.
- Does the 2007 film include the reprise?
- No full vocal reprise on the 2007 soundtrack; the reprise appears in later televised adaptation Hairspray Live! with Maddie Baillio.
- How did the cast album perform and what awards did it receive?
- The OBC album won the 2003 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album; it’s widely documented via Masterworks and trade coverage.
Awards and Chart Positions
Album milestones: Hairspray: Original Broadway Cast Recording won the 2003 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. Contemporary coverage also tracks the show’s Tony streak (eight wins in 2003), though those are production, not album, honors.
How to Sing Good Morning Baltimore (Reprise)
Vocal color: Keep it buoyant but smaller than the opener - focused, speechy mix, quick flips between complaint and conviction.
Tempo & feel: Light two-beat pop; sit in the pocket so the punchlines land, then lift on “And get ready, Baltimore…”
Acting beats: It’s a pep talk in a cell. Show the wobble, then snap back to Tracy’s signature optimism on the final couplet.
Additional Info
The OBC album page at Masterworks Broadway confirms label lineage and cataloging across platforms. For a contrasting on-camera reprise, see Hairspray Live! with Maddie Baillio’s version folded into NBC’s broadcast flow.