Hairspray Live! (2016) Reviews

• Disappointing

  BeaconSky2016-12-07

  With audio drop outs, shaky camera work, poor direction and a lead actress constantly out of breath and whose dancing was fair at best, this was difficult to watch. The frequency and length of commercial breaks was annoying. The stand out was Derek Hough. We all know he is a great dancer but the guy can sing too! During the bows at the end of the show, the director cut away just as Kristen Chenowith was about to come into camera view for her bow. Yikes! As a huge draw for the show, this goof was an insult to her and an example of the poor directing. NBC can't seem to pull off these live shows without some glaring mistakes.

• Amazed

  AbigailAutumn2016-12-08

  Hairspray Live deserves a great rating! While it is true there were a handful of technical bugs and when it comes to some casting choices, people who are familiar with the show might have to get used to the new cast, all the hard work and endless practice that went into this is quite an amazing feat! Being a person of theater, film and broadcast myself, what it takes to pull something off like this in a live setting blows my mind. Life is not perfect, but what makes a live show feel more realistic, more connected on a human level than a couple of bugs or passionately exhausted vocal inflections?! While some of the past live shows have had their struggles, Hairspray Live is a big leap in the right direction. For what it is, all the technical aspects they achieved, and how it was not pre-recorded, it is worth the watch.

• Normally I love musicals

  clearthinkernow2016-12-08

  This was very disappointing. I like singing where beautiful sounds come out, not screeching. Way too much screeching. There were so many places where the music overpowered the singing so that I only saw moving lips and heard no singing at all. There is no way to adjust ears so that one can tune into the music and the other to the voice, so it's just disappointing when someone doesn't do his/her job to make sure things are working together. I had to actually force myself to watch all the way through to the end. It was way too long and not interesting enough to enjoy to the end. Maybe NBC just can't pull off a live musical show.

• Overall, didn't like it.

  stishstash2016-12-11

  Pros: Maddie Baillio, Jennifer Hudson, Ephraim Sykes, and Shahadi Wright played their characters very well, and did a wonderful job. Great singers too! Ariana Grande did not once try to upstage Baillio, nor did the producers put put more focus on her than Baillio. Cons: The camera angles were abysmal. General lack of heart and soul than other recreations. The choreographer must have been drunk for the first few numbers. Movements were very stiff. Was the sound mixer asleep? Technical issues with microphones, mainly them cutting out. The sponsor ads in between, while creative and cute, felt very out of place. Other characters did not act or sing with as much feeling.

• A new tradition, hitting perfection, simply Divine!

  mark.waltz2016-12-07

  It's nearing 30 years since the release of the original John Walters comedy classic that rocked my world and had me doing the Madison in 1988. The Broadway musical, coming at the time when the medium was arising from a self-induced coma, was even more thrilling with new songs and dances, starting a lengthy run that only came to an end due to the recession of 2008. Having seen Harvey in the early months of the run in the fall of 2002, and one of his many replacements, I was looking forward to the movie version in 2007. Unfortunately, as entertaining as it was with a few thrilling performances, much of the magic was gone. But the magicians have pulled the rabbit out of the hat, and the rabbit is thumping with 40 karats! An extraordinarily group of young talents join an incredible ensemble of veterans who are having a ball bringing this Tony Award winning musical fully back to life. Maddi Baillo has the energy, sweetness and no nonsense attributes to be Tracy Turnblad, the 60's teen with a little extra girth who longs to dance on TV and puts the smug snobby racists in their place, in the process bringing her sheltered mom (Harvey Fierstein, deliciously repeating his Tony winning role) out of her ironed in shell and striving for the love of the non- judgmental hunk (Garrett Clayton). But the nasty program manager (Kristen Chenoweth) and her dumb but equally hateful daughter (Dove Cameron) put their worst feet forward to stop Tracy from getting the guy and integrating the show. Among the veterans who provide hysterical supporting performances are Andrea Martin as the uptight, bigoted mother of Tracy's outcast best pal (Ariana Grande), Martin Short as Tracy's easy going pop, Rosie O'Donnell as a nasty teacher, and Sewn Hayes as Hefty Hideaway proprietor Mr. Pinky. Cleverly inserted into the dance numbers are a few former movie and stage Tracy's, looking very much like the character to provide a nice tie-in. Grande gets to break out when she hooks up with the direct but honorable young black teen (Ephraim Sykes) whose mother is the outrageous Motor Mouthed Maybelle (Jennifer Hudson) who brings the young generation of different cultures together and gets to reveal the show's moral with my personal favorite song, "I Know Where I've Been", ironically one of the only real standout moments in the 2007 film. However, she is more glam, and lacks the commanding presence that made the character stand out in the previous incarnations. Energetic singing and dancing, an adult edge and some great suggestive representational sets give this a live stage performance feeling. Like the feeling I get when listening to the cast album, certain moments gave me chills. In the switch from the action to commercials, keeping actors in character as they do product pushing. My only analysis about the hosting is the preview of what is coming up as really unnecessary. The show and the cast were selling themselves, and that element took away spontaneity and showed unjustified insecurity. A few moments provide questionable choices, but most of the buttons have been fastened, giving a happy end to this chapter in a revolutionary story.