Fans of Grease spread across several generations, and Sunday night they eagerly tuned into Fox to watch Grease: Live.
A live television special, Grease: Live combined elements from the original 1971 stage musical and the 1978 film adaptation. To do this, director Thomas Kail had the cast and crew dashing to and from three filming locations at Warner Bros Studios in Los Angeles: two soundstages and an outdoor area in the studio’s backlot. Live audiences observed from each of these locations, and the crew stylistically integrated them into scenes as on-screen extras. For those watching on television, the camera crew danced around as much as the cast to implement an immersive 360-degree experience. On the technical side, everything spectacularly came together perfectly in a bold and original way.
The plot, admittedly, did not totally coincide with the film as fans may have hoped, but differed in incorporating some scenes and songs from the original musical. One notable addition was Marty’s solo, “Freddy, My Love,” a song about Marty’s long-distance relationship with a Marine. A few scenes were even slightly rearranged. That said, iconic moments such as the “Grease Lightnin'” and the “Beauty School Dropout” were not overlooked. Many of the lines, like Sandy’s memorable comment, “Tell me about it, stud,” also derived from the movie. Furthermore, movie fans must keep in mind that as with book-originating film adaptations, changes are often unavoidable to compensate for the varying formats a story is told. While these changes do not always prove best, they made Grease: Live creative, respectable and unique.
Shortly put, the cast did an excellent job in the acting, singing and dancing department. With such an accomplished cast, few would expect any less of them. The most famous of the main cast included High School Musical‘s Vanessa Hudgens, Dancing With the Stars‘ Julianne Hough and Carly Rae Jepson as Rizzo, Sandy and Frenchy, respectively, among others. A few other household names, such as Joe Jonas, Mario Lopez and Jessie J also appeared, though in lesser roles. Didi Conn, the actress who played Frenchy in the 1878 film, returned to the world of Rydell High for a guest appearance as Vi, a waitress at the Frosty Palace who gives advice to Frenchy.
Everyone in the cast successfully lived up to the film’s precedent. Aaron Tveit, the actor who portrayed Danny Zuko certainly did his best to fill Travolta’s shoes, and, for the most part, prevailed. Only in a few moments, such as when singing “Sandy,” could he not quite fully take control of Travolta’s portrayal of Danny Zuko. A few others had moments like that as well, but all were totally professional throughout the live event and wonderfully embodied the spirit of Grease.
Two particular shoutouts for professionalism can go for the cast in the second golf cart at the end of the performance when the driver accidentally went over a curb, nearly tipping the whole cart over, and Vanessa Hudgens, for sticking to the “show must go on” mantra even though her father sadly died of Stage 4 cancer hours before the premiere.
Altogether, the entire production successfully accomplished quite an amazing feat. Grease: Live was quite the wonderfully memorable performance.
The HiLights
Rating: 5 stars
Title: Grease: Live
Release Date: 1/31/16
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