In the movie, this scene took place at school, with Tracy and Penny walking the halls as Tracy daydreams about being with the handsome heartthrob Link Larkin (and eventually creeps on him in the bathroom). The Location of “I Can Hear The Bells” Changed There were a few songs included in Hairspray Live! that didn’t make it into the movie, but with one track it was the opposite situation: “New Girl In Town,” performed by Brittany Snow’s Amber in the movie, was totally cut from the live-action special. Perhaps it was the joke about the girl getting hit by a moving van at the very end of the song… Staging it was apparently not a challenging task for the Hairspray Live! gang, because it was flawless. But it was one of the first numbers in the live TV special, featuring Penny Pingleton ( Ariana Grande), Amber Von Tussle (Dove Cameron) and Tracy Turnblad (Maddie Baillio) and their moms. While this song did make it onto the movie’s soundtrack, the scene was too difficult to stage for the movie version, so they put the track in the credits rather than featuring it in the film.

“Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now” Wasn’t Staged in the Movie Sorry gals, guess you didn’t make the cut for live television. Perhaps one of the smaller details that only mega Hairspray movie fans will notice (Noreen and Doreen weren’t in the Broadway version), there’s nobody with rhyming names in the role call during “Nicest Kids in Town.” In Hairspray Live!, Luanne is followed by a girl named “Kooks,” while in the movie it’s Joey, a quick-take of several people and then the ever-so-memorable Noreen and Doreen.

1988 hairspray movie soundtrack