FOX’S ‘GREASE’ IS THE WORD – WITH A LIVE AUDIENCE
Updated musical gives Danny, Sandy and the rest of gang new life
For veteran producer Marc Platt, the decision to bring the musical Grease to television was a no-brainer.
“It’s so beloved and so much a part of our culture,” he says. “Most people’s reference point is the film, but if you’re a theater buff, you know the show and probably grew up performing it, in middle school or high school.”
Grease: Live, set to air Jan. 31 on Fox, will combine elements of the 1971 stage musical (which opened on Broadway the following year) and 1978’s hit film adaptation, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as unlikely high-school sweethearts Danny and Sandy.
Unlike NBC’s recent live telecasts of The Sound of Music, Live! (2013), Peter Pan and this month’s The Wiz — which Platt credits with “reinventing the live musical theater event” on TV —
Grease will be performed in front of a live audience.
“They’ll be incorporated into the design of the show,” Platt says, even appearing in scenes. “You’ll feel their presence. I think the audience gives something, especially in a musical comedy that’s about exuberance and fun.”
Aaron Tveit, whose Broadway credits include Next to Normal and Wicked, plays Danny, the ultra-cool leader of the T-Birds, and Dancing With the Stars champ Julianne Hough is Sandy, his good-girl love interest. Carlos PenaVega and Vanessa Hudgens are Danny’s buddy Kenickie and Rizzo, Kenickie’s squeeze and queen of the Pink Ladies. The cast also includes singer Carly Rae Jepsen and Keke Palmer as Pink Ladies Frenchy and Marty, respectively, as well as Andrew Clark, David Del Rio, Kether Donohue and Jordan Fisher.
Director Thomas Kail — known for his celebrated stage work with Lin-Manuel Miranda, most recently in the smash Hamilton — notes that Grease: Live will, like the movie, emphasize supporting characters.
“That’s the spine of the film,” Kail says. “Our feeling is that Grease is a big party and everyone’s invited; that’s the sense the film gave me.”
Fans can expect to hear hit tunes introduced in the movie: the pining ballad Hopelessly Devoted to You and the theme song, performed on the soundtrack by Frankie Valli, and covered in the TV special by Jessie J.
Will the show’s appeal endure? The story, set in the late 1950s, “captures that moment where you can’t imagine the world without your group of friends, when maybe you fell in love for the first time,” Platt says. “There’s something in its DNA that transcends time and place.”
Adds Kail, “It’s a show about trying to belong ” — a point that he has imparted to leading man Tveit, who notes, “You have a group of people here finding acceptance, trying to be OK with who they are and who they love.”
Playwright/screenwriters Jonathan Tolins and Robert Cary retooled the story for the new adaptation. “They’re finding ways to have fun with it, to try to make it funnier, but sincere as well,” Platt says.
Tveit says the show takes viewers on a nostalgia tour. “Sarcasm is a huge part of our culture today, but the ’50s was a more innocent time, I think. And in the crazy world we live in, musical theater should be able to take you on a ride.”
“You have a group of people here finding acceptance, trying to be OK with who they are and who they love.”
Star Aaron Tveit