‘Hairspray Live’ pleases fans

Brian Bowen Smith/NBC

Every year since 2013, NBC has released a televised live musical production. The first live production, “The Sound of Music Live,” was a large hit and productions of “Peter Pan Live” and “The Wiz Live” followed in its success. This year, “Hairspray Live” took the stage and was a large success.

The story first appeared in the 1988 film “Hairspray” and was reimagined in its Broadway debut in 2002. However, most people are most familiar with the 2007 movie remake with Nikki Blonsky and Zac Efron.

The story follows the life of teenager Tracy Turnblad and her musical adventure through the racially-charged streets of 1962 Baltimore. Tracy is always optimistic and dreams of being a TV dance star on “The Corny Collins Show.”

When the cast was released, many were concerned with the choices the casting directors made. Debut actress Maddie Baillio took on the role as Tracy, “Teen Beach Movie” star and Dearborn-native Garrett Clayton took on the role as Link Larkin, pop artist Ariana Grande played Penny Pingleton, and Martin Short took on the role of Tracy’s father Wilbur Turnblad. Sure, there were a lot of big names, but would they live up to the expectation?

There were a few casting choices that weren’t my favorite, but overall, “Hairspray Live” was a fantastic production.

With a new bundle of cast, there are sure to be differences in chemistry amongst cast and the overall flow of the show. For the most part, this didn’t seem to be an issue; almost all of the cast seemed to be a great fit for the role they were portraying. However, Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad and Ariana Grande as Penny Pingleton didn’t really seem to work. The role of Edna is traditionally played by males and that’s perfectly fine; however, Fierstein seemed to be too over the top. It’s one thing to be in character, but it’s something entirely different to take the focus from everyone else’s characters in being your own character. For Grande, it just seemed as though the people in charge wanted her in the show, but didn’t know where to put her. She wasn’t awful by any means; it just didn’t seem as though Penny was the best role for her particular style.

Most viewers seemed to be comparing it solely to one of the forms (the original movie, the Broadway musical, or the 2007 movie), which in that case, they were probably a bit disappointed. The live production was not just a replication of everything that happened in one form or the other–that would be pointless. Instead it was something entirely new: a cohesive blend of all three origins with some of its own flair as well. The production featured songs from all three places and presented them well.

All in all, with expectations so high, it is impossible to please everyone, but NBC’s production of “Hairspray Live” was a success. The cast gave a high-energy performance that was unforgettable.

NBC has already begun production for their 2017 live production of “Bye, Bye, Birdie” and it’ll surely be interesting to see how they can follow this one up.