HAIRSPRAY is next NBC Musical...- Page 40

[DigificWriter]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 1:55am

Hairspray is not a show with which I have a ton of familiarity, which means that I don't have much in the way of preconceptions or expectations going into NBC's broadcast, and I consequently haven't been following the production as rigorously as I did for the past couple of NBC productions (Peter Pan LIVE! and The Wiz LIVE!).

That said, I am listening to the soundtrack right now (on shuffle) and thoroughly enjoying it, with You Can't Stop the Beat, (You're) Timeless to Me, Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now, Come So Far (Got So Far to Go), Ladies Choice, It Takes Two, Welcome to the 60s, and Good Morning Baltimore being my favorite songs.

I also have to disagree with the criticisms of Ariana Grande that people are batting about. I don't generally listen to her music in general (it's just not my cup of tea), but I really like her vocally here, especially matched up with Jennifer Hudson.

If the production is even half as good as the soundtrack, this could potentially bump Peter Pan LIVE! out of its place as my favorite of NBC's productions so far.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 2:40am

^Is she for real?

[Chowd95]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 5:49am

Sgreen3, you're truly missing out. Enjoy tonight's broadcast, but go back and check out the movie and the Broadway version (soundtrack or bootleg). It's a show worth knowing... so many great songs.

[BlackElleWoods]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 6:28am

This just came across my mind .... Do you all think Orfeh or Laura Bell would have made a good Velma 

[Littleshopofcarrie]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 6:54am

^ No. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 10:14am

This just came across my mind .... Do you all think Orfeh or Laura Bell would have made a good Velma 

Who?  Exactly.  Every lead NBC cast is a recognized personality.  Some more known than others but still recognizable to the general public.   Orfeh and Laura Bell Bundy are only known to the hard-core Broadway audiences.  Even the average Broadway audience has no idea who either lady is.  

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 10:20am

Has anyone successfully found a livestream for NBC in the past? I'm not going to be home tonight to watch this on TV and was hoping I could catch it online...

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 10:23am

If you have a service provider like DirecTV, Dish, Comcast, you can use your login credentials at www.nbc.com/live to watch "Countdown to Hairspray" at 7:30/6:30 cst and the Live broadcast at 8/7 cst.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 11:01am

Great, thanks!

[BlackElleWoods]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 11:04am

BrodyFosse123 said: "This just came across my mind .... Do you all think Orfeh or Laura Bell would have made a good Velma 

Who?  Exactly.  Every lead NBC cast is a recognized personality.  Some more known than others but still recognizable to the general public.   Orfeh and Laura Bell Bundy are only known to the hard-core Broadway audiences.  Even the average Broadway audience has no idea who either lady is.  

 

" I have to disagree with no one knowing who LBB is . She's been on television since 96  . Also every lead cast is not a recognized personality . Both The wiz  & hairspray have cast members that are not easily recognized . They both also casted new comers as top lead roles 

 

[Littleshopofcarrie]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 11:20am

BlackElleWoods said: "BrodyFosse123 said: "This just came across my mind .... Do you all think Orfeh or Laura Bell would have made a good Velma 

Who?  Exactly.  Every lead NBC cast is a recognized personality.  Some more known than others but still recognizable to the general public.   Orfeh and Laura Bell Bundy are only known to the hard-core Broadway audiences.  Even the average Broadway audience has no idea who either lady is.  


" I have to disagree with no one knowing who LBB is . She's been on television since 96  . Also every lead cast is not a recognized personality . Both The wiz  & hairspray have cast members that are not easily recognized . They both also casted new comers as top lead roles"

 

She's still way too young looking for Velma.

 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 11:23am

SO excited for this tonight!! A few hours of distraction at the end of the semester.

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/7/16 at 11:31am

I really had no desire to watch tonight. The original movie and the Broadway production were good enough for me. I turned the movie musical off after 20 minutes. Seems I will be off from work tonight and there is a nice bottle of wine in my kitchen.....

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 12/20/16 at 4:25pm

Just purchased the DVD. So far, sound seems to have been fixed and/or amped up a bit (including when it dropped during GMB on the live airing). Dialogue is more audible than it was before. 

No bonus features, unlike the previous NBC musical DVDs which included the making-of documentaries that originally aired a week before.

"New Girl in Town" was indeed in the broadcast in the same place it does in the show's underscore (I noticed it during the live airing) and it has been amped up, also, for the DVD. 

"Mama" has been balanced and improved. Portions of the song from the final chorus to  Dove's "watch me fly" seem to be from a dress rehearsal because there's no spotlight hiccup. Looks and sounds great. 

None of the Darren's across interactions are there and the show flows so much better. And of course, without commercials it does also. 

Still watching... It's much more enjoyable to watch without the anxiousness of watching it live and hoping everything went as they planned, if that makes sense. 

I really hope that any network that continues to do this has or will consider the possibilty of actually doing the shows in a theatre with a live audience. The way we saw Into The Woods, Sunday in the Park, and even more recently like South Pacific, Legally Blonde, etc.  someone made the comment to me sometime last week that these end up looking like live TV movies and that people would be able to get more of a theatrical experience if it is all produced and staged as it would have been as a stage production. I'm sure a live audience for that would be forgiving if there's like a man with a steady cam walking all across the stage trying to get close-ups. LOL.

Updated On: 12/20/16 at 04:25 PM

[JP2]

Posted: 12/20/16 at 4:56pm

Disappointed I spent money on the digital version which has none of those fixes PLUS Darren.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 12/20/16 at 5:05pm

Distributors have been known to "update" the digital version with the home video version in instances like this and other live shows, but it's not a consistent thing. I prefer digital iTunes copies for nearly everything else but I have all of the NBC musicals and Grease Live on DVD, and even Fox's Rocky Horror which at least has some bonus features and the deleted song.