5 things you need to know about Hairspray Live!

Written By Aviva Mehta | Updated: Dec 12, 2016, 08:20 AM IST

The cast of Hairspray Live! bust some funky dance moves on set — pics: NBC

An amazing story (it’s Hairspray, duh), and an even better cast, and the actual outcome was pretty good too

The Hairspray Live! show aired on NBC a few days ago, and people were eagerly waiting to watch it. An amazing story (it’s Hairspray, duh), and an even better cast, and the actual outcome was pretty good too. Here were the five best things about the show:

Garrett Clayton successfully replaced Zac Efron

Okay, we all know nobody can really replace Zac Efron, but Clayton did a bang-on job. He was so good as Link Larkon that everyone is buzzing about how he’s the new teenage heartthrob, assuming he doesn’t take on any of our HSM superstars roles anymore. His hairdo, acting and expressions were all so Larkon, and he was definitely dressed to impress.

The brilliant staging

If you’ve ever watched a Shakespeare play live in your English class, then you can understand that nobody should ever have to go through that. It is painfully boring to watch a stage performance on camera. In this case, they moved the cameras around enough for the show to seem like it wasn’t just being recorded by some man in the audience. It was as colorful as imagined, and the sets were awesome.

Lots of surprises

Hairspray Live! was a three-hour long production, which is no easy thing to sit through. But, it was made a whole lot more interesting by the random celebrities and other actors making bursts of appearances all over the show.

Stellar vocals

Okay, Jennifer Hudson KILLED it with her vocals. Her voice literally can’t be compared to the others, but yet, everyone else was really good too, nobody really disappointed. Even Kristin Chenoweth had some stunning vocals up her sleeve.

Maddie shines

Maddie Baillio, who played Tracy Turnbald, really blew everyone away with how well she played the character. Her vocals were beautiful, and she was so originally Tracy. She was just lively, charming, enigmatic, and definitely stood her ground in front of all the celebs. Maybe a star is found?