On Wednesday, December 7th, NBC broadcasted their fourth live musical, Hairspray. The cast included all star names, such as Jennifer Hudson, Harvey Fierstein, Martin Short, Ariana Grande, Derek Hough, Andrea Martin, and Kristin Chenoweth. The show also included up-and-coming actors such as Dove Cameron, Garrett Clayton, and newcomer Maddie Baillio. The show received over 9.04 million views the night it aired. In case you missed it, here are top ten no-to-be-missed highlights from the broadcast!:
1. Dove Cameron
To me, Dove was the MVP of the show. I was genuinely shocked by Dove's performance and so many people are still talking about how incredible she was. She is most known from her Disney Channel show Liv and Maddie. Knowing that, I wasn't sure how well she was going to portray Amber, but she killed it. From her first scene, I instantly knew she was going to do such a great job on this, and that she did. Not to mention, her vocals are insane.
2. Derek Hough singing Ladies Choice
This song is normally sung by Link, but for the live broadcast, they switched it up and gave it to Derek Hough, who played Corny Collins, and they gave it to him so he could have his song and dance moment. I loved EVERY SECOND OF IT. I could be bias because I love Derek Hough, but the way it fit with the staging and having Corny sing it, I really loved it. 3. Appearances from previous "Hairspray" cast members during "Welcome to the 60s"
This broadcast was filled with previous Hairspray cast members. Harvey Fierstein, who played Edna Turnblad in the broadcast, was Edna 15 years ago in the Original Broadway Cast of Hairspray. Along with Harvey, in the number "Welcome to the 60s", The Dynamites- Shayna Steele, Judine Somerville, and Kamilah Marshall- were the Dynamites in the Original Broadway Cast of Hairspray as well. During "Welcome to the 60s," they broke the fourth wall as two previous Tracy's- Ricki Lake (from the Original 1988 movie) & Marissa Jaret Winokur (from the Original Broadway Cast) gave Maddie Baillio a hug as they all looked into the camera.
4. Kristin Chenoweth
KChen is the QUEEN. No further explanation needed.
5. Jennifer Hudson singing "I Know Where I've Been"
Show. Stopping. I physically stood on up my bed and started clapping as soon as she hit that last note. I had no words. Although I agree that there could have been a better fit to play Motormouth Maybelle (preferably someone a little older), she sang the life out of this song and it was one of the biggest highlights.
6. Maddie Baillio
The producers held an open call to find their Tracy for Hairspray Live! and they chose just the right person. Maddie, who was a sophomore at Marymount Manhattan College when she got the role, was the perfect fit. Her acting skills were great and she had an amazing voice with great control. When it first started, she seemed a little bit nervous (reasonably so), but as the show went on, it didn't take long for those nerves to disappear. She was adorable and phenomenal.
7. "Mama I'm A Big Girl Now"
This is one of my favorite songs in Hairspray and I loved the way they staged it. They used a split screen to show Amber, Tracy, and Penny all at home as their mothers interjected into the song. This was one of the first moments we see Amber (besides in the crowd at the Corny Collins Show). This is also the first time we really hear from Ariana Grande who played Penny. I was also shocked by Ariana's performance. She was a hilarious, dorky Penny and really did a great job. This number was one of my favorites!
8. Dance break in the middle of "Run And Tell That" between the gym and the record store
This is such a small thing but I loved it SO MUCH. I am a sucker for dance breaks. They added this into the broadcast because they needed transition time to get Tracy, Penny, Link and Seaweed from one scene to the next. They added in this amazing dance break to provide time to do that. I thought it was a perfect touch.
9. Shahadi Wright Joseph as Little Inez
I know this role is small, but this girl had PIPES! Shahadi Wright Joseph, who made history as the youngest actor to play young Nala in The Lion King on Broadway at nine years old, and just finished a run in the Original Broadway Cast of School of Rock, nailed her role. Little Inez is a more minor role, but she was belting everywhere in during her solo in "Run And Tell That". She may be small, but boy, is her voice mighty!
10. "You Can't Stop The Beat"
The finale number of the show! This was such a fun number to watch because everyone from the show was together on that one stage, just singing and dancing their hearts out. It looked like they all had such a blast and the energy from that number was through-the-roof. You could see how happy they were that they did it and were ready to just give it their all for this final number! So much fun!