High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens as bad girl Rizzo, pop star and Broadway Cinderella Carly Rae Jepsen as air-headed beauty school dropout Frenchie, former child star Keke Palmer as sex-obsessed Marty. Dancing With the Stars alum Julianne Hough as eternal good girl Sandy Young. True, the home of American Idol seemed like a more natural fit for a live musical than NBC, but Grease is perhaps an even more iconic show than The Sound of Music, and we all know how that one turned out for NBC.īut then casting announcements kept rolling in, and they felt shockingly on point: Broadway heartthrob Aaron Tveit as bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold Danny Zuko. When Fox announced they were getting into the live musical game, with "America's Favorite Musical", Grease, there was reason to be skeptical. With so much at stake, “Grease” is no kid stuff.My name is Dancin' Dan and I LOVED Grease! Live. And NBC has no reason to stop: Its next project will be “Hairspray.” The network also announced a production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” for fall, starring Laverne Cox.ĪBC is getting into the game, preparing a (taped) “Dirty Dancing” with Abigail Breslin. “Grease: Live” is just the first musical Fox has planned. The set will be well protected by plastic sheeting, keeping “Grease” from turning into “Singin’ in the Rain.” This could be problematic, given that Sunday’s forecast – thanks to El Niño – is for rain in Southern California.
Some of the production will be shot outdoors on a carnival set. Kitt and collaborator Brian Yorkey have written two new songs.Īside from the television audience, the show will have a live audience as well – sometimes visible in the production.ĭesigner Korins built a “cafegymatorium” for the show, but not all of “Grease” will be set indoors. The New York Times reported that the budget is $16 million – massive for television – and the live production will be accompanied by a behind-the-scenes “Internet experience” and a soundtrack album.Īside from Kail, the musical’s brain trust includes “Wicked” producer Marc Platt, “Hamilton” designer David Korins and award-winning composer and music director Tom Kitt. The live-musical game has been golden for the Peacock Network: “The Sound of Music” and “The Wiz,” in particular, brought NBC large audiences.įox has mounted a huge push for “Grease: Live,” as you’ve probably noticed by all the ads during football games. “I want people to do new plays on television.” “I deeply believe that theater should be for everyone,” he told The New York Times. Kail likes the idea of mixing it up between stage and screen.
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(Also in the cast: “Brady Bunch” favorite Eve Plumb and “Wire” and “Treme” notable Wendell Pierce.)īut the real ace may be the TV production’s director: Kail, who’s the director of the Broadway phenomenon “Hamilton.”
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Jeff Conaway and Travolta, both of whom also played Broadway, were in the movie version with Stockard Channing, Didi Conn, Michael Tucci and Newton-John.īut the TV version has a few aces, including Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo, Carly Rae Jepsen as Frenchy and Keke Palmer as Marty alongside Julianne Hough’s Sandy and stage veteran Aaron Tveit’s Danny. The stage and movie versions of “Grease” are hard acts to follow: Among the performers who played the Broadway version are Barry Bostwick, Adrienne Barbeau, Richard Gere, Patrick Swayze, Marilu Henner, Treat Williams and Peter Gallagher. It’s got an able cast – and a terrific director.
“To try to honor that and pay homage to something that has moved us and we have such a great affection for, and then try to make our own version of it.” “One of the things we really were very focused on was trying to capture the spirit of both the original companies of ‘Grease’ and that film that has left such an indelible impression on all of us,” director Thomas Kail told The Hollywood Reporter. (In fact, post-film stage productions generally have incorporated some of the film’s material.) But despite the long run of the show – when the original production closed in 1980, it was the longest-running show in Broadway history – and countless amateur presentations, the film is so deeply etched in people’s minds that it must be acknowledged.
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