Yep, it’s still the word.
By Eric Goldman
Well, damn, that was a lot of fun!
I haven’t watched any of the NBC live musicals in recent years, whose ratings success no doubt influenced FOX to decide to do Grease live on Sunday night… or, excuse me, Grease Live! Of course, I’d heard about some of the knocks those NBC shows took for certain cheesy aspects and awkwardness and it was impossible not to wonder if Grease Live! might be in store for the same… even as Grease itself (a personal, musical favorite of mine – I was raised on the soundtrack, thanks to two much older siblings who were obsessed with it) may be a bit impossible to truly ruin, due to its ever-catchy songs.
The first few minutes of Grease Live did take some getting used to as far as the innate cheap feeling (we’re talking visually here) that usually accompanies live scripted TV. But director Thomas Kail (Broadway’s recent smash hit, Hamilton) was able to give the entire show the energy and pace it needed to sustain a three-hour run time, and Grease Live! got better and better as it went along.
It was hard not to be impressed by what was pulled off here, when you think about all that went into doing this live. “Freddy, My Love” and “Greased Lightning” both contained some rather astounding, instantaneous costume changes to represent the move from the real world to an imaginary scenario, and it was truly amazing how deftly Kail and his highly-talented cast and crew pulled this all off.
By the time you got to the huge dance number of “Born to Hand Jive” (set in a large, school auditorium set), it was difficult to not be thrilled by what was being accomplished here. Again, you have what are already beloved, insantly identifiable songs, but the Grease Live! team were juggling so many balls to make this work, in such a big manner, that it was continually exciting to see it all get successfully pulled off.
The cast were a talented and game bunch, though there were a couple of times where you had to accept that some were strong singers and dancers, but not exactly embodying the roles. Broadway star Aaron Tveit was strong in all of Danny’s songs, but he certainly didn’t have the attitude and swagger John Travolta famously brought to the T-Bird leader. Julianne Hough was more on point as Sandy, which is, by design, a more straight-forward, “good girl” role, but still didn’t really pop. But when they were giving their all singing and dancing during “You’re the One That I Want,” among other numbers, they were both great.
There were moments in Grease Live! that lagged, to be sure – mainly some of the talkier segments, when characters had longer conversations. The entire show felt like it must have been as exhausting as hell to do, and the cast would sometimes feel relatively low key during the non-singing moments; perhaps knowing they still had a long time, and a lot more musical numbers, to go, and saving their energy for that.
From Keke Palmer singing the aforementioned “Freddy, My Love” to Carly Rae Jespen’s “All I Need is An Angel” (written especially for Grease Live!) to Jordan Fisher (as Doody) singing “Those Magic Changes,” there were highlights for many of the cast. And while Vanessa Hudgens doesn’t have the natural edge Stockard Channing brought to Rizzo, she was terrific singing her big solo, “There Are Worse Things I Could Do.” Fair or not, it was impossible to not think about Hudgens’ father having passed away just a day before Grease Live! and it’s to her credit that if you didn’t know that, I think you would simply have seen the High School Musical alum giving her all and delivering a commendable performance throughout.
Grease Live! was, ultimately, just incredibly fun. A couple of missteps aside (Mario Lopez was, perhaps inevitably, more of a distraction than needed), it was thoroughly entertaining, added to be comic bits from the likes of Kether Donohue as Jan, Ana Gasteyer as Principal Mcgee and Haneefah Wood as Blanch. And kudos for putting Jan Brady herself, Eve Plumb, in as Mrs. Murdock. While Grease was created as a piece of 1950s nostalgia, it now also exists, oddly, as a piece of 1970s nostalgia for those who love it, thanks to the era it was made in, so this was a nice nod to that aspect.
And to those who note that the racially diverse cast seen here doesn’t reflect what American high schools were like in the 1950s, well, yeah, but I’d point out that high school kids also weren’t breaking into elaborate song and dance numbers in the 1950s either. Rydell High is, in its own way, its own fantasy world already, so who cares about being true to the time period?
Sadly, on the fantasy front, there was no flying car at the end of this version… but did you see the carnival they built on the Warner Bros. lot?! I wanna go there!
If you hate musicals and hate Grease, Grease Live! sure wasn’t going to change your mind all of the sudden. But for the multi-generational fanbase who admire this show, there was plenty to love about Grease Live! There was so much that could have gone wrong, but instead, this was three hours of pure entertainment, featuring many commendable, elaborate moments, all backed by a soundtrack that’s been getting people to sing along for several decades now.
