Mets like things outside of wx. Hey, we are human! (At least I am) And for me, from working in the media industry, I have gained a great appreciation for the “live performance”. In my opinion, there is nothing better than a great live performance, especially a great live vocal performance. And Hairspray Live! provided several of these great live performances.

Maddie Baillio (second from right) and three other cast members from Hairspray Live! 

Overall, I thought it was a very entertaining and fun live show. Did I like the Live! show better than the Hairspray movie? No, but it was still good.

I thought NBC did a good job with how they produced the show and cast the roles. For instance, Maddie Baillio, the young lady that was cast to play “Tracy Turnblad”, did really good job. Also, I really liked how the network featured local affiliates from around the country. I thought it was a good way to bring more of a local connection to the broadcast. Sometimes it can feel as if the national networks only focus on cities live New York and Los Angeles.

Jennifer Hudson as “Motormouth Maybelle”

If I had to pick one person who stood out the most from the show, it would be Jennifer Hudson, who played “Motormouth Maybelle”. She was literally amazing, especially during her performance of the song, “I Know Where I’ve Been”.

The performance was powerful! She struck the right emotional tone and notes, and it was a performance that grabbed my attention and was something from which I couldn’t turn away. This is the audio from the live broadcast… https://youtu.be/sJKJjKXEldk.

Judge for yourself and let me know what you think. And if you haven’t had a chance to see the full show, I recommend checking it out. Here is a link to the Hairspray Live! broadcast … https://youtu.be/AIS3MNimO98