In just one week, NBC will be broadcasting "Hairspray Live!", the fourth of its attempts at Live Broadcast Musicals. Now, after Fox's "Grease Live!" I got annoyed. Not because of the production. In fact, I think it was a pretty darn good job for what it was. But I was annoyed at the responses, with many of them being "It just wasn't the original" (The John Travolta movie version). Now, I'm an avid fan of both Theater and Film, so for my own sanity, I'm going to go over some very important details that differentiate between theater and film.

Casting

This is, perhaps the most obvious. Unfortunately, Zac Efron will not be playing the role of Link. But that's what makes theater great. Every time a cast member changes, there is something new. It might not be major, but something is different. And yes, sometimes there are times when you believe that nobody could ever replace them (Tim Curry's performance in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" automatically comes to mind). But YOU MUST. If you get so hung up on who plays the character rather than the character itself, you need to refocus. If we had the same actor play the role several years after the show, we'd be watching an apparent rerun on "The Walking Dead". Furthermore, this is how new talent is found! You simply must allow the actor to be the character.

Concept

When NBC first announced "The Sound of Music Live", One of the first thoughts I had was "how?" Now, there have been several recordings of many musicals, but what NBC strived for was not a recording. They wanted an experience. They wanted to be able to get the cameras in the scene. Mix that in with acting, sets, singing, and, of course, a dance number and it becomes difficult. With a movie you can do however many takes the director needs. But this is live theater, and the fact that they juggle singing, dancing, walking, avoiding cameras, and minimizing the fourth wall break is an extraordinary feat. These actors (and every actor/actress) puts in countless hours for their production. Not to mention the film crew, sound crew, special effects, and every other aspect of filming a live musical.

The Story

If memory serves me correctly, the original script for "Les Miserables" was four hours long. I don't know about you, but that's a really long time for me. That script was then cut down for the stage productions, which are close to 3 hours long, with one intermission. The 2012 movie version was cut down even a bit more so. Why? First, you don't want the audience sitting on their bums too long. Second (and most important), budget. More time on stage/screen means more money for all the creative team, more film, more rehearsal time. The same will go for these live musicals. Sometimes a scene has to be cut down. Sometimes a song is replaced, or different ones added. The creative team has already said that there are four songs that weren't in the original production that were going to be, and are now being performed. Not to mention the fact that every production changes. I once saw a Q&A with the actor who played Raoul in Broadway's "Phantom of the Opera" (Which just celebrated a historic 12,000 performances!) and he mentioned that there was a new music cue before a scene. Almost 30 years since the show premiered and it is still changing.

The Fourth Wall

Now, this one is a bit difficult to explain. I'm sure that if you watched the ending of "Grease Live!", you saw the cast running through the backlots to get to the carnival scene. This annoyed many people. But let me ask you this: How is that different than an actor being in the audience? The best example is the play "Peter Pan". Tinker Bell is dying, so Peter talks directly to the audience and asks them to clap to help Tinker Bell. Yes, this is slightly different than the entire cast running through a backlot, but did it really kill the show that much? I know there are many out there who hate when the fourth wall breaks, but that is what theater is about is breaking the fourth wall and inviting the audience in. I have a feeling that "Hairspray Live!" will do a similar ending, and that's OK. A fourth wall break is not the worst thing ever.

What I'm trying to say...

...is that "Hairspray Live!" may be different. It may be a hit, it may flop. But as an audience member, you have an active role in it, to engage and respond to the show. If you're caught up in a different production of it, you will never accomplish that. Now set your DVRs and practice every step that's in your repertoire.

"Hairspray Live" Premieres December 7th at 8/7c on NBC