NBC’s live musical, reliable disappointment

“Hairspray Live!” aired on NBC Dec. 7 and was, to be frank, a disappointment. After three other live TV musicals, I was hoping that NBC would raise the bar this time, but this newest NBC TV musical was underwhelming to fans of live theatre.

“Hairspray Live!” was a highly anticipated event, pulling world renowned stars such as Kristin Chenoweth, Dove Cameron, Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande and Harvey Fierstein, and was hyped on social media. However, the cast didn’t deliver on their notoriety. Although I like Grande’s voice in her pop songs, she was weak and absent, both in her acting and vocals. She could barely be heard over the powerful ensemble and band. Fierstein was borderline unlistenable, and though I respect his history and experience on Broadway, his raspy tone didn’t qualify as singing in my mind. The rhythmic speaking he consistently produced throughout the broadcast was distracting and painful.

Dove Cameron and Garrett Clayton did not deliver on their Disney fame from “Liv and Maddie” and “Teen Beach Movie,” respectively. Cameron was squeaky at best and was vacant facially when not speaking. Clayton didn’t bring the Link Larkin charm I was hoping for and didn’t have the vocal power Links of the past (like Zac Efron and Matthew Morrison) have produced.

The vocal high points for me were Chenoweth as evil beauty queen Velma Von Tussle and Hudson as Motormouth Maybelle. Chenoweth embodied a perfect diva attitude despite her small size and gave much needed diversity to the show’s sound through her well developed soprano chops. Hudson’s songs “Big, Blonde and Beautiful” and “I Know Where I’ve Been” were a breath of fresh air among wimpy leaders. With her strong and powerful alto belt and soulful acting, Hudson led the two most successful scenes, in my opinion, with her finesse and experience.

“Leading” lady Maddie Baillio, in her mainstream debut, was extremely disappointing. After the way NBC promoted her, I was expecting to be blown away by her voice and acting chops, but her vocals were wispy at best and her acting reminded me of a bad high school show. She seemed to be checked out when she wasn’t talking and had a computer face when dancing. She looked out of place during the group dance numbers, as she was clearly inexperienced among the Broadway professionals in the ensemble.

Overall, “Hairspray Live!” was just sloppy. The set and costumes were beautifully designed, but were clumsily dealt with. A set piece during “I Can Hear the Bells” was basically thrown onstage with no regard to its placement, and a cast member noticeably tripped over it. There were many obvious line flubs, which I haven’t seen in any other live TV musical. The camera work was shoddy at best; the camera was visibly shaking and jarring at multiple points in the broadcast to the point that it was distracting to what happening on-screen. The cameras even cut away from Chenoweth before she had a chance to bow in favor of showing a disinterested Grande. It’s understandable for a few noticeable mishaps in a live broadcast, but there were so many mistakes that it detracted from the viewer’s experience.

Some of the better aspects of “Hairspray Live!” were the supporting characters. Andrea Martin and Martin Short were hysterical as Mrs. Pingleton and Wilbur Turnblad respectively, bringing the acting expertise that the rest of the cast so lacked. Ephraim Sykes, a member of the original Broadway cast of “Hamilton,” was amazing as Seaweed. He brought a light and a vocal strength to the young leads that made everything more bearable. His performance in “Without Love” was virtually the only part of the number that I enjoyed. His stage presence and dancing ability outshined Baillio, Clayton and Grande despite being the person with the least fame or name recognition. Derek Hough (Corny Collins) held his own and although he wasn’t on stage for a very long time, his pristine dancing and sparkling vocals were enough to make him memorable. Alongside the ensemble of the ‘nicest kids in town,’ Hough’s stage presence shone, improving the show after a disappointing and sloppy “Good Morning Baltimore.”  
“Hairspray Live!” had a ton of potential, but the bad seemed to outweigh the good. However, I believe NBC can easily fix the issues from “Hairspray Live!” in their next live musical, “Bye Bye Birdie.” In order to gain back the ratings slump from this year, they should focus less on getting as many big name performers as possible and really focus in on casting actors that have experience with live performance and stage acting. Acting for TV is different than a live performance and the cast’s lack of acting expertise clearly showed. FOX did an incredible job during “Grease Live” last year at balancing celebrities (Vanessa Hudgens, Carly Rae Jepsen) with lesser known but immensely more talented actors (Aaron Tveit, Jordan Fisher, Elle McLemore). The amount of mistakes present in the broadcast was inexcusable for the network because of the fact that this is their fourth go-around with this concept. FOX did a much cleaner and polished production on their first try last year. I have always supported these kinds of theatrical endeavors, but if NBC doesn’t learn from the obvious mistakes of this event, they won’t be getting my viewership anymore.