Hairspray Live! (Spoiler-Free) Review: NBC's Live Musical is A-mazing


Hairspray Live! aired tonight, and I can say that, unequivocally, Hairspray Live! was NBC's the best live musical yet. I must admit, I had never seen Hairspray, so I was not excited when they announced it was the next musical. But by the time tonight rolled around, I couldn't wait for it. I watched it before I watched The Goldbergs (one of my favorite shows). That's how excited I was for it. And boy, I was not disappointed. Note: this is a spoiler-free review, because for those that haven't yet seen the show, or any version of Hairspray, I don't want to ruin the magic for you.

Hairspray Live! was so, so good. It was just so much fun, and that's really what mattered. That's what made The Wiz Live and Grease Live work so well, and the lack of fun made The Sound of Music Live and Peter Pan Live, well, kind of disappointing and boring. The whole cast of Hairspray Live! was so great, and the casting was just top notch.

I was initially skeptical of Ariana Grande in the role of Penny. But she was great, and delivered my personal favorite performance in a crowd of great performances. My favorite moments of the show always happened to feature Grande. Maddie Baillio was great in the lead, and was incredibly well-cast. She's an amazing Tracy, and she can really sing.

Andrea Martin was also great. Her role was relatively small, but every second she was on TV was awesome. Prudy was such a great secondary villain, and Andrea Martin really made it work.

Man, Rosie O'Donnell is really having a great year. She's been great on Mom, Match Game, and now Hairspray Live! I'm not a big fan of hers, but she was pretty great in this.

You Can't Stop the Beat is just so much fun, isn't it? It's just so catchy and fun to sing along to. They really knocked it out of the park.

I can't end this review without mentioning Jennifer Hudson, who was amazing as Motormouth Maybelle. I loved her in this role, and she probably delivered the best vocals of the night.

Hairspray Live! was truly a great experience through and through. The lead roles were so amazing in their roles, and made this work so well. This right here is the best of the best when it comes to TV musicals, folks.

Grade: A+
MVP: Ariana Grande
Favorite Musical Moment: You Can't Stop the Beat

Well, NBC really put together something amazing here. I'll be back in 2017 for NBC's next two live events- A Few Good Men Live and Bye Bye Birdie Live. Let's hope that can be as good as Hairspray Live!


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