The Shows Must Go On! Hairspray
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When we first vanished into our little squirrel holes a few months ago, Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber started releasing stage-to-screen adaptations of his musicals every week on YouTube. By now he’s run out of his own musicals to show, but never fear, he’s got connections! And so now we’re treated every Friday to a new musical theater gem, available to watch for just 48 hours before it vanishes back into whoever’s vault he plundered. This weekend’s treat is Hairspray Live, the TV adaptation of the movie adaptation of the Broadway adaptation of the John Waters film. With that many leaps from medium to medium, how does the story of body positivity, feminism, and racial injustice fare? Not as badly as it could have! Hairspray, in all of its incarnations, has always ended with the racists defeated, television integrated, and everyone cheering like everything’s been solved. But oh no, in real life, injustice isn’t defeated in one climactic boss battle! NBC’s live version ends with Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson singing “Come so Far (Got So Far to Go)” and boy oh boy does the second half of that title feel true today. MATT BAUME