Robert Bianco

USA TODAY

Stop this beat? Buttercup, you can’t even slow it down.

Set in the '60s, written for the big screen by John Waters in the '80s, turned into a Tony-winning Broadway musical in 2002 and a hit movie musical in 2007, Hairspray returned as a live TV event Wednesday (*** 1/2 stars out of four) in all its toe-tapping, hand-clapping, cross-dressing, beehived glory. Brimming with great songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, opened up and spread out by directors Alex Rudzinski and Kenny Leon, this latest live NBC musical from Craig Zadan and Neil Meron was their best, most entertaining work yet.

But Zadan and Meron's latest effort was more than just exuberant fun. With a message about accepting ourselves and each other while celebrating and embracing our diversity, this Hairspray felt more relevant — and maybe even important — than ever.

NBC's 'Hairspray Live!' aims for musical sheen

In an evening filled with things to celebrate, let's start with two. For those who love star-is-born stories, there was the joy in watching newcomer Maddie Baillio, who won the role in an open audition, light up the night as Tracy Turnblad. Well, when the directors remembered to keep the lights on her.

And for traditionalists, there was the intense pleasure of seeing Harvey Fierstein (who also rewrote the book) recreate his brilliant, iconic Broadway performance as Tracy’s mother, Edna. This is not drag or female impersonation; it’s acting of the highest order — a moving, amusing, beautifully wrought transformation that submerges the man in the role. If there was no other reason to do this Hairspray, preserving Fierstein’s performance on film would be reason enough.

Those were just two standouts in what may be the strongest cast a TV musical has gathered. Veterans like Kristin Chenoweth, Jennifer Hudson, Derek Hough and Martin Short blended perfectly with Ariana Grande, Dove Cameron, Garrett Clayton and Ephraim Sykes — with each having a moment to shine.

Watch: Jennifer Hudson dominates 'Hairspray Live!' with one powerful number

Taking a cue from Fox’s Grease Live!, which Rudzinski directed, NBC spread this production around the Universal backlot, throwing an audience into the mix. Unfortunately, that mix also included Darren Criss’ overly enthusiastic, momentum-stopping interruptions, Hairspray's one inexplicably bad decision.

The cleverly told story that goes dancing by centers on Tracy, whose first goal is to star on The Corny Collins Show and win Link Larkin (Clayton) away from Amber (Cameron). But that goal morphs into something bigger when she and her friend Penny (Grande) meet Seaweed and his mother, Motormouth Maybelle (Sykes and Hudson). Now morally awake, Tracy becomes determined to integrate the show, though she’ll have to get around Amber’s mother Velma (Chenoweth) to do so.

What keeps the story moving is a series of great numbers (some added from the movie), all energetically choreographed. It's a Broadway hit parade, from Welcome to the ‘60s — brightened by cameos from the two original Tracys, Ricki Lake and Marissa Jaret Winokur — through an expanded Run and Tell That, which became a star-making turn for Sykes, and on to Hudson tearing her way through the civil rights anthem I Know Where I’ve Been. And it all climaxes with one of Broadway's — and now TV's — biggest and best finales,You Can’t Stop the Beat.

As with all of these TV musicals, there were recurrent technical glitches: sound dropping in and out, lights going on and off, voices sometimes seeming to detach themselves from the performers. But those may be the inevitable by-product of an effort to do a live show this complex.

And when it comes to live musicals, this one may be hard to beat.

'Hairspray Live!' set is a blast from the past