Hairspray Live! has been the talk of the town for the past couple of months. With celebrities like Ariana Grande, Derek Hough, and Jennifer Hudson as part of the cast, you couldn’t help but get excited for December 7th.
One of the best parts about the show was Maddie Baillio. Before Hairspray Live!, you probably didn’t know about this newcomer and that’s because before this, she was just a regular college student at Marymount Manhattan College. Baillio saw an ad on Facebook about the open call auditions for the role, and decided to give it a shot.
You would’ve thought the role was made for Maddie by the way she played Tracy Turnblad. From the costume, to the vocals, to the choreography, she truly was a star last night. I couldn’t see anyone else playing the role, so job well done Maddie!
From the very beginning, the set, the costumes, the hair, pretty much everything blew me away. NBC really knew how to make you feel like you were in the 60s. You could definitely tell the whole entire cast and crew were working their butts off throughout the show.
Two of my favorite sets from the event were the Baltimore street, and the Corny Collins Show set. During “(Hey Mama) Welcome to the 60’s,” the Baltimore street was lit up and Tracy and Edna Turnblad were dazzling in their matching dresses.
The Corny Collins Show set was used multiple times just like the Baltimore street, but my favorite time it was used was during the finale song “You Can’t Stop the Beat.” Not only is that one of my favorite songs, but the set looked amazing with the whole cast dancing together.
Any technical difficulties? Of course there were, this is live TV! During the opening number “Good Morning Baltimore,” Maddie’s mic went out a couple times. During “Mama I’m Big Girl Now” there was one moment where there was no lighting on Maddie, but the cameras were on her so all you could see was her outline.
As a huge Broadway nerd, I couldn’t help but get excited to see Harvey Fierstein and Kristin Chenoweth. For those of you who don’t know, Harvey played Edna Turnblad in the original Broadway production of Hairspray, and it was quite a sight to see him back in his original role.
Kristin was absolute perfection last night, and that is no surprise, I mean her vocals were spot on during “Ms. Baltimore Crabs.” She gave the best combination of sass, and comedy for the character Velma Von Tussle.
Cast members that I thought were pretty average were Derek Hough, Garrett Clayton, and Ariana Grande. I wasn’t aware that Derek Hough could sing, but I was pleasantly surprised when he started “Nicest Kids in Town.” Did I think he was absolutely amazing? Not really, but did he do well as the character? For the most part.
I love Ariana Grande, but I was pretty nervous with her playing the role as Penny Pingleton. I felt like her acting was pretty good, and she did have good comedic timing. The only thing that I wasn’t too sure about was her singing. Now, of course Ariana is an amazing singer, I just think that her voice doesn’t fit the role of Penny that well. During “Mama I’m a Big Girl Now” I felt like she was trying to hold back from her usual singing which made it kind of weird, but you definitely got that Ariana-feel during “You Can’t Stop the Beat.”
I didn’t really know about Garrett Clayton before this, but I knew that he was in Disney Channel’s Teen Beach Movie. I thought that he was okay as Link Larkin, but that is pretty much it. Did he have the acting, moves, and vocals? He did, but honestly I would much rather prefer Zac Efron in the role.
Some actors I was pleasantly surprised by were Dove Cameron and Ephraim Sykes. Ephraim played Seaweed J. Stubbs, and he was amazing. For those of you who don’t know Ephraim, he is an original cast member of Hamilton: The Musical. His outfit, vocals, and moves were amazing, and totally Seaweed. My favorite number that he did was “Without Love.” During “Run and Tell That” it felt like he was a little off-beat in the beginning, but he was quickly able to recover.
Dove Cameron was absolutely hilarious! From the singing, to the hair, to the attitude, I honestly couldn’t see anyone else playing Amber. She worked so well with Kristin, who played her mother, and to say that she was amazing is such an understatement. This girl was Amber Von Tussle.
Last but not least, we have to talk about Jennifer Hudson. Her out-of-this-world vocals, and her version of Motormouth Maybelle in general was just flawless. “I Know Where I’ve Been” gave me chills, and was probably my favorite number out of the whole show. Jennifer Hudson definitely made this Hairspray-lover proud!
Overall, this show was crazy good! If have to have the show or you missed the event, don’t worry, you can pre-order the DVD for $22.98 through NBC’s website. I hope everyone enjoyed this 60’s spectacular just as much as I did!