The successful Broadway production of John Waters' hit, Hairspray, spurred Waters and producers to adapt another movie hit, Cry Baby. Writes NYDN's Ben Widdicombe,

Are you ready for a Broadway standard called "Girl, Can I Kiss You With Tongue?"

That's one of the numbers in Cry Baby, the next John Waters -film-turned-musical coming to the Great White Way, in March.

Young James Snyder will play the role made famous by Johnny Depp in 1990. "John Waters is like the quirky uncle you always wanted," he told me Sunday at a birthday for Adam Epstein, who is producing Cry Baby after taking home a Tony for Hairspray.

No crying here, baby.

Lance Bass' career may have brought him to New York, but the Hairspray star's heart lies elsewhere. New York magazine caught up with the out entertainer and got his uncensored thoughts on the big apple. And they're not very nice. First, he's not down with our real estate:

There’s a lot of pieces of crap here for a lot of money. And I don’t think anyone here has any style. I was looking at fully furnished places and it was like, you can either have a bunch of floral prints or some dusty couch from the 1960s.

While the newly single Bass doesn't say where he finally settled, we bet it's not the Upper East Side, where former band mate Justin Timberlake owns a restaurant, Southern Hospitality: “I’ve been a few times. But it’s really up there. The Upper East Side? I’m not in college anymore." No, Lance, no you're not….

Bass' New York adventure hasn't been all bad. The former boy bander learned a new skill: "My walking pace has picked up a lot." You better be a good runner, girl, 'cause we New Yorkers don't take kindly to LA-types trashing our town.

John Travolta just got another pro-gay apostle. Hairspray director Adam Shankman joins Hairspray creator John Waters in defending the portly star from Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff's much-publicized "gay boycott".

Says the 43-year old gay filmmaker:

I am stunned this has gotten that far. [Naff] has made the dumbest claims on the entire planet. Everybody involved in Hairspray - all the creators - are gay. So John has no problem with people being gay - me, the writers, composer, John Waters - all gay. John's personal beliefs never walked onto my set. I never heard the word Scientology.

There you have it, folks: John Travolta loves men, especially when they're gay.

John Travolta had plenty to say to NY Times journo Jesse Green. Like what? Well, he again defended Scientology's allegedly homophobia, “Scientology is one of the least homophobic religions. It’s not very interested in the body at all.” Except restricting it, of course.

The Hairspray star's words fall a little flat after Green's wry opening:

We had only just met, but John Travolta, big and handsome and hypnotic, was fondling the lapel of my navy blue blazer. “Ooh, what a great idea to match this with a cobalt blue shirt,” he cooed. “I wouldn’t have thought of that.”

You're a good actor, Travolta, but not that good.

Rumors of Lance Bass' new relationship are greatly over exaggerated. Or so he claims. The former boy bander and new Hairspray star tells Us that he and Brazilian model Pedro Andrade are "just friends":

He's just a friend. We are just friends now. I guess you can say we're dating because we've been on multiple dates, but it's nothing exclusive. I'm freshly out of a relationship.

When the gossip rag pointed out that he and crazy Reichen only broke up four months ago, Bass replied:

But I've never dated in my adult gay life. I need to do that. Mainly I don't want to date anyone right now because I'm so focused on my career, which I haven't been for the last four years.

Luckily, Bass' career and his non-relationship can flourish together - both he and Andrade - who Bass describes as "the sweetest person ever" - will be living in NYC for the next six months.

Thanks for the tip, Made in Brazil!

John Travolta and John Waters chatted it up at last night's Hairspray premier in Hollywood. We're not certain, but we have a feeling they're talking about Johnny Knoxville's meat. And how Mink Stole looks fabulous.

Note the conciliatory look in this last picture, it's almost as if Waters is saying, "There, there, John, we all know you're straight".

Lance Bass must have a sexual guardian angel.

Not only did the 28-year old former boy bander once date the uber-attractive (and just as crazy) Reichen, but he's now cuddling up to New York-based Brazilian model, Pedro Andrade.

The men made their dating debut on July 4th at Sag Harbor's The Estate. And things are allegedly going well. From a proverbial "source":

You could tell they're very happy with each other. Pedro is beyond good-looking … so hot. Pedro is spunky, full of life. They're a perfect match.

Bass' new gig helps seal the perfect deal. He'll soon start work on Broadway's Hairspray, which means he can get a piece of that Brazilian beauty any time he wants. Except show time, of course.

Click here to see Andrade's - um - body of work.

John Waters scoffs as the gay protest over John Travolta's role in Hairspray. Washington Blade's Kevin Naff started the guffaw when he objected to Travolta's tie to the anti-gay Scientologists.

Speaking to NYDN, Waters defended Travolta's appearance in the musical movie based on his non-musical movie:

If [Travolta] was homophobic dancing in that fat suit with as many gay people as are working on this film, he would have had a heart attack and been dead.

First of all, he is playing a loving mother, not [the late gay politician] Harvey Milk. I'm all for gay troublemaking, but is this journalist going to police the religion of all actors? Do we boycott Nicole Kidman because she's Catholic?

No, Mr. Waters, we shouldn't boycott Kidman because she's a Catholic! That's ridiculous! We should boycott her because she's a bad actress. And funny looking.

Some theatrical gay activists are taking on the musical remake of John Waters' cult classic, Hairspray. It seems the drama-ramas are making some drama over Scientologist John Travolta's dual roles as Edna Turnblad and Arvin Hodgepile. As you know, those crazy scientologists don't believe in medicine, faggotry or fun of any flavor.

Now Washington Blade managing editor Kevin Naff's helping rally the troops for a good old fashioned boycott. He tells MSNBC:

Travolta, a prominent Scientologist, has no business reprising an iconic gay role, given his [religion’s] stance on gay issues. It’s well known that Scientology rejects gays and lesbians as members and even operates reparative therapy clinics to ‘cure’ homosexuality.

Naff goes on to suggest that Divine, who originated the roles, is "spinning in her grave". Um, Naff obviously doesn't know Divine. That bitch is probably gathering strength to reanimate, eat her way out of her grave and wreak havoc on all of Tinsel Town. Except West Hollywood, of course…

• GLAAD may not be about gay defamation, but they're all about male objectification. The media watch dogs have joined forces with Mega Muscle to insure your next wank helps a good cause: them. 100% of preorders of Playgirl Men of the Year Derrick Davenport and Julian Fantechi go straight to GLAAD.

• Inside the steamy world of the LA's homo-hop club scene: Most clubs have kind of a clubby atmosphere. First Fridayz LA is more of a party, a gathering, social networking and dancing to hip-hop music. We do it at non-traditional gay clubs so someone who is not in the life or [someone who is] in the life can come and experience this without being intimidated. It’s not a traditional gay club.”

• ACLU's gay executive director Anthony D. Romero on torture.

• 20-year old former marine James Hardy pleaded guilty to strangling Raymond Catolico and then stuffing his body under a sink. Hardy's been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

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We've got nothing but love for Ricki Lake, so we have to give a shout-out to the Hairspray star for quashing her chubby demons.

The 38-year old actress flaunts her new look in this week's Us, telling the tab-rag:

For the longest time, when I was very heavy, I couldn’t cross my legs. I couldn’t physically do it. LOVE that I can cross my legs now…

Speaking of not closing one's legs, Lake also chats with Us about her new baby-centric documentary, The Business of Being Born.

We may love her, but we suspect hordes of postpartum mama's are shaking their fists at her banging body. Better watch out, Lake, those bitches get mean.

What better way to start The Emotions Issue than with a little sit down with John Waters? A man of many hats - artist, filmmaker, writer, general pervoid - Waters' work never fails to tug on the heart strings. Whether the tugging's pleasant or not, well, that depends on where you keep your heart.

If your hearts in your ear, you'll certainly want to get your hands on Waters' new musical compilation, A Date With John Waters, on which the so-called king of filth celebrates some of his favorite forgotten love songs. The collection's closer to sublime than sleazy, offering the listener some lost aural wonders.

See what Waters has to say about this musical curation, how to tell when it's really love, why he's not for pill-popping and the last time he cried, after the jump.

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&bull Lesbian presbyterian minister is found "not guilty" of any wrongdoing when she marries gay couples. Say "lesbian presbyterian minister" five times really fast. [AP]

&bull John Travolta will return to his musical roots to play Edna Turnblad in the movie-musical version of Hairspray, joining Queen Latifah, who will play Motormouth Maybelle. And somewhere, Harvey Fierstein his cutting himself. [Reuters]

&bull Iowa students lobby state lawmakers to pass "Safe Schools" LGBT protection. Call us if you need any help, kids. We got your back.[WHO TV]

&bull Guantanamo Bay uses gay porn to torture political prisoners. [Knight Ridder]

Bruce Vilanch recently took time from his busy schedule to chat with Bradford Shellhammer about the blogs he reads, the Bush administration, and this year’s Oscars. He also dishes on a few of our favorite divas.

Ok. Hi Bruce. We at Queerty love you. And we are sad we missed your show Almost Famous 2005 in San Francisco. What did we miss?

Full-frontal nudity. The first three rows had to move back.

You have so many projects lined up. Tell us about Queer Duck?

I play myself. It's a stretch. But it's never gotten in Jerry Seinfeld's way. This is a feature-length version of the cartoons that used to follow Queer as Folk on Showtime. They once had me pop in as a guest joke, and we all thought that this time I should do the voice instead of Mercedes McCambridge.

And Celebrity Fit Club! This is one of our guilty pleasures. We only wish you were on the same season at Jackee. How did this come about?

I think I can lay the blame at the feet of ant. Which is better than laying ants at the feet of, oh never mind. He recommended me and when they called they said we're hoping you can add some humor to the proceedings. Losing weight is such martyrdom that people give themselves over to their own drama. Maybe it's because they're deprived of the one thing that they could count on — food. It's a pity party three times a day. So I'm trying to do it and have a few chuckles along the way.

After the jump Bruce talks about Bette, Whoopi, and Miss. Ross.

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