So how was the show? After a slow and stilted opening that featured mechanical rats and a rain-coated flasher with an Ipana toothpaste smile, this feel-good musical eventually built up momentum and good spirits, once an exceptionally game cast led by 20-year-old newcomer Maddie Baillio as Tracy Turnblad settled into the infectious good will of the Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman score. Also an abundance of bizarre camera angles and moves that cut off heads and feet and added a presumably unintended air of dizzying psychedelia more appropriate for a production set half a decade later. The result was the most confusing of all the Peacock’s live telecasts to date, made more so by weird technical glitches (including an oversize aerosol can whose doors refused to stay shut at a key moment). In addition to the audience, we cut to viewing parties set up around the country, New Year’s Eve-style. A picture-in-picture screen during scene breaks offered micro-glimpses of backstage maneuvers there was idiotic self-congratulatory color commentary, and key advertisers Reddi-Wip and Oreos were given prominent product placement and commercials that emulated the musical.
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The hit tuner about 1962 Baltimore and one chubby teenage girl’s determination to integrate an American Bandstand-type rock-and-roll TV show brought a live audience after three outings that were marked by dead spots where applause and laughter were wanted - especially in light of Fox’s award-winning Grease! last season, which showed it could be done - and how to do it. There were several firsts in Hairspray Live!, NBC’s fourth annual telecast of a Broadway musical (following The Sound Of Music, Peter Pan and last year’s The Wiz!) from exec producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan.