Grease: Live (2016)
February 1, 2016 5:43 AM - Subscribe
After enjoying a summer romance, high school students Danny and Sandy are unexpectedly reunited when she transfers to Rydell High. There Sandy must contend with cynical Rizzo and the Pink Ladies in attempt to win Danny's heart again.
I hate Grease. I've always hated Grease. It's basically my least favorite show ever.
That said, as an old theater nerd/junkie, my jaw was somewhere in the basement. That production was insane. If you have any idea what it takes to pull that off, you'd feel the same.
posted by General Malaise at 8:21 AM on February 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
That said, as an old theater nerd/junkie, my jaw was somewhere in the basement. That production was insane. If you have any idea what it takes to pull that off, you'd feel the same.
posted by General Malaise at 8:21 AM on February 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
I feel like we're over the golden age of hate-watching live musicals (I'm looking at you Peter Pan) because this was actually more fun than not. It was a spectacle and that's what I want from something like this. (If Fox wanted to make "the week before the Super Bowl" their annual timeslot for something like this, I'd fully support it because it's the same vibe for me as the big game; good or not, I'm probably gonna watch it, which is a great thing for me here in January/February.)
I feel like Hudgens just deciding to do her best Stockard Channing was the exact right choice when living in that shadow, especially when so many other production choices were so similar to the movie, and I felt like her "Worse Things I Could Do" was pretty great as a pretty big fan of that song for nostalgia reason. I'm unfamiliar with Hudgens from anything else except for the celebrity gossip pages, but I'd be interested in seeing her any
I also tuned in, in part, for Carly Rae and thought she was actually pretty great, except for the song they wrote for her, which she performed well enough but did her no favors by sounding nothing like the rest of the show. I was also impressed by Jessie J in the opening in a way I didn't think I would be, though let's be real, she was doing her best Pink impression and you should always just use Pink.
The AV Club review pointed out that half the cast was going "natural acting" and the other half was doing "musical theater acting" and while neither choice is necessarily wrong, doing both was weird, and I think that was the major problem on the acting front.
In the end though, any new production of Grease does is remind you that the actual source material is just so ugh except for a few incredible songs that may only be incredible because you're so nostalgically attached to them.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:48 AM on February 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
I feel like Hudgens just deciding to do her best Stockard Channing was the exact right choice when living in that shadow, especially when so many other production choices were so similar to the movie, and I felt like her "Worse Things I Could Do" was pretty great as a pretty big fan of that song for nostalgia reason. I'm unfamiliar with Hudgens from anything else except for the celebrity gossip pages, but I'd be interested in seeing her any
I also tuned in, in part, for Carly Rae and thought she was actually pretty great, except for the song they wrote for her, which she performed well enough but did her no favors by sounding nothing like the rest of the show. I was also impressed by Jessie J in the opening in a way I didn't think I would be, though let's be real, she was doing her best Pink impression and you should always just use Pink.
The AV Club review pointed out that half the cast was going "natural acting" and the other half was doing "musical theater acting" and while neither choice is necessarily wrong, doing both was weird, and I think that was the major problem on the acting front.
In the end though, any new production of Grease does is remind you that the actual source material is just so ugh except for a few incredible songs that may only be incredible because you're so nostalgically attached to them.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:48 AM on February 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
Yeah, Grease is a stupid story and it's sort of better if you check your e-mail during the talking parts and just pay attention for the song parts. I thought Aaron Tveit really showed himself to be leading man material (I mean, movie and TV leading man, I am aware he is already a Broadway leading man). Julianne Hough was kinda eh for me, but she got the job done. (Her dancing was under-featured, IMO.) Carly Rae Jepson was surprisingly appealing and I would go watch her as a character actress. Vanessa Hudgens knocked it out of the park, playing against type, and with the saddest story in the world as background; I hope this opens up opportunities for her beyond Disney-type ingenues she's been mostly confined to since finishing the High School Musical franchise. The sad personal story will definitely draw more attention to her playing against type, and doing so really well.
I also laughed out loud when they did the expurgated high school lyrics for Greased Lightning -- I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that meeting with the Fox censors. "No, no, we're down with all the date rape storylines, just don't say 'pussy wagon.'"
I enjoyed it, and I do think the live audience added something; I hope NBC's future stabs at live musicals do try a live audience in their more theater-like setting.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:53 AM on February 1, 2016
I also laughed out loud when they did the expurgated high school lyrics for Greased Lightning -- I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that meeting with the Fox censors. "No, no, we're down with all the date rape storylines, just don't say 'pussy wagon.'"
I enjoyed it, and I do think the live audience added something; I hope NBC's future stabs at live musicals do try a live audience in their more theater-like setting.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:53 AM on February 1, 2016
I was also impressed by Jessie J in the opening in a way I didn't think I would, though let's be real, she was doing her best Pink impression and you should always just use Pink.
I didn't know it was going to be Jessie J and for a second I thought it was Pink and then it obviously wasn't but it sort of was and I was super confused. Like maybe they tried to clone Pink, but something went wrong and they wound up with someone who was 95% Pink?
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:07 AM on February 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
I didn't know it was going to be Jessie J and for a second I thought it was Pink and then it obviously wasn't but it sort of was and I was super confused. Like maybe they tried to clone Pink, but something went wrong and they wound up with someone who was 95% Pink?
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:07 AM on February 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
Despite being a theatre nerd, I don't know Grease well. I also missed the first 30 min. So I too wasn’t clear whether the “main” storyline was poorly written or whether it was blandness of the two leads (despite twitter going agog over Tveit in tight shorts and bicep-accenting tees). I did read they tweaked the script slightly to make Sandy not just all about changing everything for him.
I liked the overall concept of moving around to different stages and outdoors, with a live audience in the background. But the lack of audience during key indoor “book” scenes still made those fall short.
There were more audio issues than I recall from the NBC live shows. But that camerawork was just outstanding! I can't say enough about that.
The entire supporting cast certainly stood out. I especially liked the two secondary actors who played Patty and Eugene. And {{{Vanessa Hudgens}}} - this definitely made me want to see more of what she could do (especially under not-so-dreadful circumstances).
So tl;dr – I was reminded, as I am every time I’m around music theatre, how much just being a dancer in a show has always looked like the most fun EVER.
posted by NorthernLite at 9:42 AM on February 1, 2016
I liked the overall concept of moving around to different stages and outdoors, with a live audience in the background. But the lack of audience during key indoor “book” scenes still made those fall short.
There were more audio issues than I recall from the NBC live shows. But that camerawork was just outstanding! I can't say enough about that.
The entire supporting cast certainly stood out. I especially liked the two secondary actors who played Patty and Eugene. And {{{Vanessa Hudgens}}} - this definitely made me want to see more of what she could do (especially under not-so-dreadful circumstances).
So tl;dr – I was reminded, as I am every time I’m around music theatre, how much just being a dancer in a show has always looked like the most fun EVER.
posted by NorthernLite at 9:42 AM on February 1, 2016
Speaking of the dancers, I absolutely loved the long curtain call they gave to everyone but especially including the background performers who were outstanding.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:47 AM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:47 AM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
That said, as an old theater nerd/junkie, my jaw was somewhere in the basement. That production was insane. If you have any idea what it takes to pull that off, you'd feel the same.
I don't hate Grease (I actually like Grease 2), but it's somewhere in my bottom half of shows, and I completely agree the staging and costumes for this were so far above what we've seen in from the recent Live TV musical events. Some of the transitions into "surreal" parts of the show were really cleverly done. I was a little disappointed in Boyz II Men as Teen Angel. I thought that was a really great choice, but the humor of that song got kind of lost.
I don't care about Hairspray, but I'll still watch it. It's going to get compared to this production, so I hope NBC does something better with the staging than they have for their past three shows.
posted by gladly at 10:23 AM on February 1, 2016
I don't hate Grease (I actually like Grease 2), but it's somewhere in my bottom half of shows, and I completely agree the staging and costumes for this were so far above what we've seen in from the recent Live TV musical events. Some of the transitions into "surreal" parts of the show were really cleverly done. I was a little disappointed in Boyz II Men as Teen Angel. I thought that was a really great choice, but the humor of that song got kind of lost.
I don't care about Hairspray, but I'll still watch it. It's going to get compared to this production, so I hope NBC does something better with the staging than they have for their past three shows.
posted by gladly at 10:23 AM on February 1, 2016
Tommy Kail (of Hamilton and In The Heights) was the director on this, so the great production is not unexpected.
posted by kmz at 10:44 AM on February 1, 2016
posted by kmz at 10:44 AM on February 1, 2016
Speaking of the dancers, I absolutely loved the long curtain call they gave to everyone but especially including the background performers who were outstanding.
And Didi Conn and Barry Pearl in their Pink Ladies & T-Birds jackets!
posted by SisterHavana at 12:22 PM on February 1, 2016
And Didi Conn and Barry Pearl in their Pink Ladies & T-Birds jackets!
posted by SisterHavana at 12:22 PM on February 1, 2016
It was pretty good, but it was no Greaß.
posted by Etrigan at 12:32 PM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Etrigan at 12:32 PM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
Like maybe they tried to clone Pink, but something went wrong and they wound up with someone who was 95% Pink?
I have gone down a thought-exercise rabbit hole this afternoon wondering that if we did have the technology to clone Pink and get 95% Pink, should we do it? Because there's only one Pink, but 95% Pink is still pretty great. But what does that do to the value of the real Pink?
Thanks Grease Live!
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:12 PM on February 1, 2016
I have gone down a thought-exercise rabbit hole this afternoon wondering that if we did have the technology to clone Pink and get 95% Pink, should we do it? Because there's only one Pink, but 95% Pink is still pretty great. But what does that do to the value of the real Pink?
Thanks Grease Live!
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:12 PM on February 1, 2016
I thought Aaron Tveit really showed himself to be leading man material (I mean, movie and TV leading man, I am aware he is already a Broadway leading man).
In case you missed it, Tveit was the lead of USA's underrated show Graceland, where his character starts as a good-kid cop and gets really, really effing dark by the end. He was pretty great in it. I actually didn't even know he had Broadway chops.
posted by General Malaise at 1:34 PM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
In case you missed it, Tveit was the lead of USA's underrated show Graceland, where his character starts as a good-kid cop and gets really, really effing dark by the end. He was pretty great in it. I actually didn't even know he had Broadway chops.
posted by General Malaise at 1:34 PM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
When the casting was first announced, knowing Tveit only from Graceland, I couldn't figure out how he landed the role. I just couldn't picture him singing and dancing.
posted by sardonyx at 1:41 PM on February 1, 2016
posted by sardonyx at 1:41 PM on February 1, 2016
Was it just me (and my applying a 2010s sensibility to a 1970s musical), or was there some serious HoYay going on between Danny and Doody when they were singing together at the end of "Those Magic Changes?" The way they looked at each other had me wondering whether Sandy was really the one Danny wants.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:24 AM on February 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:24 AM on February 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
It wasn't just you, and it was glorious.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 6:30 AM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 6:30 AM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's been a long time since I've watched Grease, but those twenty or thirty times stuck with me pretty well. I liked most of the tweaks and changes, but honestly wish they'd changed a bit more. (Though they could stand to leave out "going to the moon" jokes and asides about how popular live performances are.) Moving Hopelessly Devoted to another part of the performance worked, though I then spent the next several minutes trying to figure out if I was remembering the order correctly.
I've never been seventies enough to like Sandy's hair and spandex bodysuit at the end. I'm assuming that at least when the film came out, she was supposed to be hot. I don't think they would have needed to change very much in her tight black clothes to make her look hot to a modern eye instead of bizarre. I also wish they'd let her character be a bit less weird about her choice to wait -- sin wagon, really? That could have used some updating. Also, why on earth would you change mooning the camera to spiking the punch? How could you lose the line about the FBI having specialists in this type of identification? That's classic.
I like that Rydell High was apparently integrated. I'm curious what state it's supposed to be in, in 1959.
posted by Margalo Epps at 5:32 PM on February 2, 2016
I've never been seventies enough to like Sandy's hair and spandex bodysuit at the end. I'm assuming that at least when the film came out, she was supposed to be hot. I don't think they would have needed to change very much in her tight black clothes to make her look hot to a modern eye instead of bizarre. I also wish they'd let her character be a bit less weird about her choice to wait -- sin wagon, really? That could have used some updating. Also, why on earth would you change mooning the camera to spiking the punch? How could you lose the line about the FBI having specialists in this type of identification? That's classic.
I like that Rydell High was apparently integrated. I'm curious what state it's supposed to be in, in 1959.
posted by Margalo Epps at 5:32 PM on February 2, 2016
"I like that Rydell High was apparently integrated. I'm curious what state it's supposed to be in, in 1959."
The original musical is set in Chicago and the last names of the characters do a lot of ethnicity and class-signaling work.
Anymore I think Grease is set in a State of Nostalgia for a teenagerhood that never exactly was (after the years of edits and changes to the show), and absolutely that should be race-blind because it's imaginary utopian 1959 so let's go all the way in idealizing it!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:18 PM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
The original musical is set in Chicago and the last names of the characters do a lot of ethnicity and class-signaling work.
Anymore I think Grease is set in a State of Nostalgia for a teenagerhood that never exactly was (after the years of edits and changes to the show), and absolutely that should be race-blind because it's imaginary utopian 1959 so let's go all the way in idealizing it!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:18 PM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
absolutely that should be race-blind because it's imaginary utopian 1959 so let's go all the way in idealizing it!
Well, they don't talk about race but they are clearly quite aware of it. Every visible person of color is paired with a white dance partner and each school grouping has a majority of white characters. There are people of color in positions of authority, but in fewer than half of the positions, and not in the highest one (school principal). (Unless you want to count Vince Fontaine as highest, in which case, awesome.) It's like when someone wants to randomize locations in a room and spreads them evenly around it. Random would have been weird clumpings here and there. This is more like someone had a list with Black, Asian, and Latin@ and made sure they checked three boxes for each. Also they forgot to put White on the list, which is how they got twenty or so checks there.
In my utopia, virtuous Sandra Dee is talking about race and going out protesting. Gotta earn that virtue!
Thanks for the Chicago info -- the names don't signal anything to me in the Pacific Northwest, though I assumed they were supposed to.
posted by Margalo Epps at 8:42 AM on February 3, 2016
Well, they don't talk about race but they are clearly quite aware of it. Every visible person of color is paired with a white dance partner and each school grouping has a majority of white characters. There are people of color in positions of authority, but in fewer than half of the positions, and not in the highest one (school principal). (Unless you want to count Vince Fontaine as highest, in which case, awesome.) It's like when someone wants to randomize locations in a room and spreads them evenly around it. Random would have been weird clumpings here and there. This is more like someone had a list with Black, Asian, and Latin@ and made sure they checked three boxes for each. Also they forgot to put White on the list, which is how they got twenty or so checks there.
In my utopia, virtuous Sandra Dee is talking about race and going out protesting. Gotta earn that virtue!
Thanks for the Chicago info -- the names don't signal anything to me in the Pacific Northwest, though I assumed they were supposed to.
posted by Margalo Epps at 8:42 AM on February 3, 2016
Grease Live Control Room Split Screen
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:00 AM on February 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:00 AM on February 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
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I thought everyone did a decent job, especially after the very beginning, when the acting was a little sloppy. Vanessa Hudgens is obviously the big story, for tragic reasons, and she was good, especially considering that "take on this famous role where everyone will be comparing you to Stockard Channing" is a rough job description. I liked her "Worse Things I Could Do" especially much, but again, I'm not a connoisseur of Grease. I think the fact that it's narratively sloppy hit me harder since I was less familiar with the movie, but man, that main story is a mess, Rizzo and Frenchy have more coherent arcs, I think, but Danny and Sandy don't.
In my (horribly biased) opinion, Carly Rae acquitted herself surprisingly well considering that they gave her an almost entirely acting based role.
This is the first of the recent trend of live TV musicals I've caught and I enjoyed it.
*Fun fact: I have seen Grease 2 probably five times.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:21 AM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]