''Grease Live!'' is an American

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of e ...

that was originally broadcast by

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

on January 31, 2016. It was a live, televised remake of the 1978 film ''Grease'', executive produced by Marc Platt, directed by Thomas Kail, and starring Aaron Tveit,

Julianne Hough Julianne Alexandra Hough (; born July 20, 1988) is an American dancer, actress, and singer. In 2007, she joined the cast of ABC's ''Dancing with the Stars'' as a professional dancer, winning two seasons with her celebrity partners. After leavin ...

Carlos PenaVega Carlos Roberto PenaVega (; born August 15, 1989) is an American actor and singer. He starred on the Nickelodeon series ''Big Time Rush'' as Carlos García, and is a member of the group Big Time Rush. He was also the host of the network's game s ...

and

Vanessa Hudgens Vanessa Anne Hudgens (; born December 14, 1988) is an American actress and singer. After making her feature film debut in '' Thirteen'' (2003), Hudgens rose to fame portraying Gabriella Montez in the ''High School Musical'' film series (2006� ...

. Patterned on similar live television musicals recently produced by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

, the production incorporated elements and songs from both the original stage musical and the 1978 film version of ''Grease'', as well as additional songs that were not present in either. In an effort to emulate the "energy" of a theatrical setting, live audiences were incorporated into the production's stagings. ''Grease Live'' was broadcast from Warner Bros. Studios, utilizing two soundstages and the studio's outdoor

backlot A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction. Uses Some movie studios build a wide variety of ...

—the usage of the latter was notably affected by rain in the Los Angeles area on the day of the broadcast. Critical reception was positive, with particular praise to the overall atmosphere and production style of the presentation, as well as the performances of the cast, particularly Hudgens as Betty Rizzo—the special was dedicated in the memory of Hudgens' father, who had died from cancer one day prior to the broadcast. The special was nominated for ten

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

s and won a total of five, including Outstanding Special Class Program.

History

Announcement and casting

On April 28, 2014, Fox announced that it had partnered with

Paramount Television The original incarnation of Paramount Television was the name of the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, that was responsible for the production of Viacom television programs, until it changed its name ...

to produce a live, three-hour televised adaptation of the 1978 musical ''Grease'' in 2015. The move came in the wake of similar live musical adaptations that had been produced by

, such as '' The Sound of Music Live!'' and '' Peter Pan Live!''. On January 17, 2015, Fox officially announced that

had been cast as Sandy and

as Rizzo and that the special would air on January 31, 2016. ''Entertainment Weekly'' reported that the special had been delayed from its original target of Summer 2015 due to difficulties in the casting process. On May 28, 2015, it was announced that

Keke Palmer Lauren Keyana "Keke" Palmer (born August 26, 1993) ( ) is an American actress, singer and television personality. Known for playing leading and character roles in comedy and drama productions, she has received a Primetime Emmy Award, five NAACP ...

would join the broadcast as Marty Maraschino, one of the Pink Ladies. On July 9, it was announced that Aaron Tveit would star as Danny Zuko in the live TV broadcast, and

would play the role of Kenickie. On September 30, 2015, it was announced that

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

, Kether Donohue, and David Del Rio would play Frenchy, Jan, and Putzie, respectively. On November 6, it was announced that Jordan Fisher, Andrew Call and Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer would join the cast as Doody, Sonny and Cha-Cha, respectively.

Production

Director Thomas Kail envisioned ''Grease Live'' as being a "combination" of elements from the original musical and the 1978 film version of ''Grease''. For instance, the production incorporated songs that were created for the film version, such as a performance of its theme song " Grease (Is The Word)" by

Jessie J Jessica Ellen Cornish (born 27 March 1988), known professionally as Jessie J, is an English singer. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11, with a role in the West End musical '' Whistle Down the Wind''. She studied ...

, "

You're the One That I Want "You're the One That I Want" is a song performed by American actor and singer John Travolta and Anglo-Australian singer, songwriter and actress Olivia Newton-John for the 1978 film version of the musical '' Grease''. It was written and produc ...

", and " Hopelessly Devoted to You", as well as songs that were exclusive to the stage version, such as "Freddy, My Love" and "Those Magic Changes". Kail explained that "very early on as I started imagining what this could be, talking to Marc Platt, our executive producer, and the folks at Paramount, 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. 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." The production also contained several new songs including the original, "All I Need Is an Angel", which was written for the character of Frenchy (

) by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey of ''

Next to Normal ''Next to Normal'' (stylized in all lowercase) is a 2008 American rock musical with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt. The story centers on a mother who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effects that managin ...

'' fame.

Joe Jonas Joseph Adam Jonas (born August 15, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He rose to fame as a member of the pop rock band the Jonas Brothers, alongside his brothers Kevin and Nick. The group released their debut studio album '' ...

's band

DNCE DNCE is an American dance-rock band consisting of lead singer Joe Jonas, drummer Jack Lawless, and guitarist JinJoo Lee. Bassist and keyboardist Cole Whittle was a part of the band from when it started in 2015 to when it went on hiatus in 2018. ...

made a cameo appearance as Johnny Casino and The Gamblers during the Rydell High dance where they performed

The Crickets The Crickets were an American rock and roll band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer-songwriter Buddy Holly in January 1957. Their first hit record, " That'll Be the Day", released in May 1957, peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' Top ...

' " Maybe Baby", as well as a 1950s-inspired remix of their own debut single "

Cake by the Ocean "Cake by the Ocean" is the debut single by American band DNCE. It was released through Republic Records, as the lead single from their debut EP, ''Swaay'', on September 18, 2015. It is also included on their debut studio album, '' DNCE'' (2016). ...

" in addition to "Born to Hand Jive" from the stage version and "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay" which was previously only part of the film version. In an interview with ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'', Jonas explained that the band was approached by the producers for the role following a concert they had performed in New York City. ''Grease Live'' was broadcast from Warner Bros. in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, wh ...

, using two soundstages, half of its

, and 44 cameras. Set designer David Korins explained that the medium of a live, television musical would "really show off what theater does best, and also what film and television does best", having constructed a self-contained "cafegymatorium" set that is designed to provide an "immersive", 360-degree experience, as well as traditional theatrical-style stagings. ''Grease Live'' was presented to live studio audiences at each of the three filming locations, who were also directly integrated into relevant scenes as extras on-stage, such as in crowds. Kail explained that he wanted to capture the "feeling" of the audiences at live stage productions, as there was "an energy and an undeniable vitality that real humans give back to real humans that are performing". ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' believed that the use of live audiences would help to stylistically distinguish ''Grease Live'' from the NBC live musicals that it was patterned after. The price of a 30-second commercial during ''Grease Live'' was set between $300,000 and $320,000.

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atla ...

was signed on as a major sponsor of the special; the sponsorship included

product placement Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of th ...

of classic Coca-Cola signage and beverages within the special (such as on a vending machine and on the diner set), and sponsored

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...

content. In order to be appropriate for broadcast television and to appease advertisers, several songs were edited for content; Platt stated that his goal was to make ''Grease Live'' a "family-friendly" show, but still wanted to maintain "the appropriate edge" the musical required. Among the edits, " Greased Lightnin'" changed the lyrics to remove several profane and sexual words (edits that original songwriter

Jim Jacobs Jim Jacobs (born October 7, 1942) is an American actor, composer, lyricist, and writer for the theatre, long associated with the Chicago theater scene. Jacobs is best known for creating the book, storyline, characters, lyrics for the 1971 mus ...

had made to the officially licensed versions many years prior), while the Italian profanity "fongool" was replaced with "be cool" within "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee".

Weather issues

The use of outdoor sets for portions of the production led to concerns that it could be affected by weather, especially in the wake of forecasts calling for a 100% chance of precipitation and possible thunderstorms on the day of the telecast. Kail stated that the production did have contingency plans in the event of rain, while Platt stated that his team had factored the possibility of rain into its plans for "many months", and that while safety was the highest priority, the show would still go on, rain or shine. While prepared for the possibility of rain, wind was also a major factor: at around 3:00 p.m. PT, an hour before the telecast went live, Platt was informed that a particular structure on the outdoor set could not be used for safety reasons. By 3:40 p.m. PT, while the team was in the process of re-staging the opening number to exclude the structure, the rain and wind passed, and engineers cleared the use of the structure—allowing a return to the original staging. The broadcast would ultimately feature references to the conditions: emcee

Mario Lopez Mario Lopez (born October 10, 1973) is an American actor and television host. He has appeared on several television series, in films, and on Broadway. He is known for his portrayal of A.C. Slater on ''Saved by the Bell'', '' Saved by the Bell: ...

jokingly introduced "

El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date ...

" as being a "special guest", while the opening number, "Grease (Is the Word)", was performed with the cast holding umbrellas, and during a discussion about having a live broadcast at Rydell High, Principal McGee ( Ana Gasteyer) quipped, "Let's just hope it doesn't rain."

Death of Greg Hudgens

On the day of the broadcast, Vanessa Hudgens announced on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that her father, Greg, had died of cancer the night before, and that she would dedicate her performance in ''Grease Live'' to his memory. Platt told ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cult ...

'' that he was "fiercely proud" of Hudgens' handling of the situation, describing her as a "very determined young woman" who "knows that the show has to go on, as any actor of the theater or in a live event knows. So she decided she would take her feelings of loss and sadness and put them in a box for that afternoon, that she would use them to fuel her performance and she would do it in honor of her father." Additionally, Fox and Paramount allowed the production to be dedicated in memory of Greg; Platt went on to say that "the cast was behind her and we all joined hands and said, 'We're going to live in this moment. Sometimes life interferes. But you have all worked so hard for this moment and we're going to go for it.'"

Cast and characters

Main cast

* Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko, Sandy's boyfriend, leader of T'Birds, Rydell High's Greaser gang *

as Sandy Young, Danny's girlfriend, relocated from Utah (this, her conservative values and sharing a name with

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...

imply a

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into seve ...

upbringing, much like Hough's own), who transforms from

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...

lady to female greaser over the course of the production *

as Kenickie, member of T'Birds, owner of the car Greased Lightnin', Danny's best friend and Rizzo's on-again/off-again fling *

as Betty Rizzo, leader of the Pink Ladies, frenemy to Sandy

Pink Ladies

as Francesca "Frenchy" Facciano, Sandy's best friend, aspiring

beautician Cosmetology (from Greek , ''kosmētikos'', "beautifying"; and , ''-logia'') is the study and application of beauty treatment. Branches of specialty include hairstyling, skin care, cosmetics, manicures/pedicures, non-permanent hair removal such as ...

as Martina "Marty" Maraschino, the Pink Ladies' resident sex kitten * Kether Donohue as Janice "Jan" Fellopa, blunt and somewhat dorky

T-Birds

* Jordan Fisher as Anthony "Doody" DelFuego, a naive and childlike aspiring musician * Andrew Call as Sonny LaTierri, trouble-making

womanizer Womanizer may refer to: * "Womanizer" (term), a promiscuous heterosexual man * "Womanizer" (song), a 2008 song by Britney Spears * "Womanizer", a 1977 song by Blood, Sweat & Tears from ''Brand New Day'' * ''Womanizer'', a 2004 album by Absolute ...

-wannabe * David Del Rio as Roger "Putzie" Jacobs, sardonic and self-confident

Special guests

* Didi Conn as Vi (Conn played Frenchy in the 1978 film) * Barry Pearl as Mr. Stan Weaver (Pearl played Doody in the 1978 film)

Musical guests

as the title song singer *

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Natha ...

as the Teen Angels *

as Johnny Casino and the Gamblers

Other characters

as Vince Fontaine * Ana Gasteyer as Principal Marj McGee *

Elle McLemore Elle McLemore (born September 16, 1991) is an American actress. She originated the roles of Eva in the Tony nominated Broadway musical production '' Bring It On'' and Heather McNamara in '' Heathers: The Musical'', the musical adaptation of the c ...

as Patty Simcox *

Wendell Pierce Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1963) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor portraying roles both on the stage and screen. He first gained notoriety port ...

as Coach Vince Calhoun * Eve Plumb as Mrs. Murdock *

Sam Clark Samuel James Clark (born 18 October 1987) is an Australian actor, singer-songwriter, best known for his role as Ringo Brown on the Australian soap opera, '' Neighbours'' and Leo in the Fox/Paramount live musical television special '' Grease: Liv ...

as Leo "Craterface/Hatchetface" Balmudo * Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer as Charlene "Cha-Cha" DiGregorio * Noah Robbins as Eugene Felsnick * Jon Robert Hall as Thomas "Tom" Chisum *

Haneefah Wood Haneefah Wood is an American actress. She is known for her role as Candace De La Brix on ''Nurse Jackie'', Vickie/Rafik's Sister in '' Freedomland'', Blanche on ''Grease Live!'', and Wilma Howell on '' Schooled'' and '' The Goldbergs''. Career ...

as Blanche Hodel

Ensemble

* Carly Bracco * Gregory Haney * Harley Jay * Jeannie Klisiewicz * Chris Meissner * Tiana Okoye * Kayla Parker * Dominic Pierson * Cailan Rose

Personnel

Musicians

* Randal Kleiser –

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

, keyboards * Brian Kilgore –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

* Dave Kendrick –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the feature ...

* John Wilson –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guita ...

* Taylor Hale –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

* Chad Timon –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

* Isaiah Miller –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

, keyboards * Lindsey Stirling, David Garrett –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

s * Laura Freeman –

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

* Joshua Alexander Sykes –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

* Nick Payton, Kail Graham –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

s * Lil' Joey –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...

* Ray Hanson, Kirk Sanborn –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

s, flutes * Arnold McCuller, Dorian Holley, Fred White, Emily Stevens, Kathy Gray, Siedah Garrett –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

*Bob Garrett – vocal director

Dancers

* Nick Baga *

Karen Chuang ''Dance on Sunset'' is an American dance and music series hosted by Quddus (Benjamin Quddus Philippe) on Nickelodeon that featured dance routines, called the "Fresh-Squeezed Dance", designed to be performed by its preteen and teenage viewers. Ch ...

* Janaya French * Courtney Galiano *

Marko Germar Marko may refer to: * Marko (given name) * Marko (surname) * Márkó, a village in Hungary See also *Marco (disambiguation) *Markko (disambiguation) *Marka (disambiguation) *Markov *Marku Marku is an Albanian surname. Notable people with the ...

* Jeremy Hudson * KC Monnie * Haylee Roderick * Brooke Shepherd * Ade Chike Torbert

Soundtrack

The official soundtrack album, ''

Grease Live! (Music from the Television Event) ''Grease Live! (Music from the Television Event)'' is the soundtrack to the 2016 live produced musical television special ''Grease Live!'', a remake of the 1978 film '' Grease''. The album was released on January 31, 2016 by Paramount Music in ...

'', was released on January 31 by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. The

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

edition, including four bonus tracks, was released on February 27. In the show, 23 songs were performed, but only 19 were included in the official soundtrack. "Alma Mater" (performed by Ana Gasteyer and

) and "Mooning" (performed by DNCE) were not included in any version of the album. The album debuted at number 37 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, and topped the same week on the Top Album Sales chart.

Reception

Critical reception

''Grease Live'' received mostly positive reviews. Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

listed the special with a 91% rating based on 34 reviews, and an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's critical consensus states that "''Grease: Live'' took the pressure and threw away conventionality — it belongs to yesterday. There was a chance that it could make it so far; we started believin' we can be who we are. ''Grease: Live'' is the word."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

listed a weighted average of 75 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Megan Vick of ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program TV listings, listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine, TV Guide Mag ...

'' felt that Kail had "upped the standard" for live television musicals, and had "successfully managed to combine all the nostalgic elements of ''Grease'' that everyone expected while creating a new experience. The set changes and scale of what they were able to accomplish—in a rainstorm no less—were incredibly impressive. Grease is the word, and ratings most likely will be too." While praising "All I Need Is an Angel" for demonstrating Carly Rae Jepsen's capabilities as a singer, Vick felt that the song was too modern for a musical that is set in the 1950s. Vanessa Hudgens - 2019 by Glenn Francis

Jeremy Gerald of ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, w ...

'' noted that ''Grease Live'' was broadcast "with nary a hitch and one last-minute change in the out-of-doors opening number that paid tribute to the greatest movie musical of all time, ''

Singin' in the Rain ''Singin' in the Rain'' is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds and featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell and Cyd C ...

''". Acknowledging that none of NBC's live musicals had "hit the stratospheric highs of this show", while aspects of the production were also praised, such as the live audiences and stage design. Vanessa Hudgens was judged to have "stolen" the show, and that Aaron Tveit and Julianne Hough "couldn't be better matched as the head of the T Birds and the sweet new girl from Utah." In conclusion, Gerald felt that he had "never seen a more inventive interplay between a show and just enough of the mechanics of the deal to make it all the more engaging. That, and the audience that played its essential part in moving ''Grease Live'' along with enthusiastic applause replacing the dead air that followed key moments in the earlier live broadcasts, set a new standard for this kind of presentation that will be tough to top." '' Variety''s Maureen Ryan felt that the performance of Hough and Tveit was weak, explaining that "when Danny has all the presence of a glass of milk and even the black-clad Sandy of the final scenes exudes all the sexual danger of a church choir director, well, rest assured that those concerned about the ''Grease'' legacies of Travolta and

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

have nothing to worry about." Despite this and other shortcomings, such as audio issues during "Hopelessly Devoted to You", and the "surreality" of the audience's presence in certain scenes, Ryan felt ''Grease Live'' got "most of the big things right", and that "by incorporating a live audience, using creative staging and employing energetic camera work", the production "boasted an impressive sense of momentum and even spontaneity." Of the individual performances, Ryan praised Keke Palmer's, Hudgens', and Carly Rae Jepsen's vocal performances, Elle McLemore's "simply terrific" Patty, Kether Donahue's "infectious joy", and Ana Gasteyer's "beautifully droll timing" as Principal McGee. She concluded that "If Fox can get the lead casting right in future and snag Kail again, audiences will surely be hopelessly devoted to the network’s next live endeavor." Writing in ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virg ...

'', Robert Bianco noted various positive and negative aspects of the broadcast. While he praised performances by the supporting cast, he lamented "the progressive dumbing-down of the material. A Broadway musical that originally spoofed our rose-tinted-glasses view of the '50s has turned into a nostalgic wallow, leaving the show with an odd mix of tones – and in this particular version, a book that sometimes seemed to get lost between songs and inside jokes. ... it was often so flatly acted" that the "kinetic", "visually impressive" musical numbers came as a "much-needed relief". Nevertheless, he felt that the production "sprang to life at the end."

Ratings

''Grease Live'' was seen by 12.18 million viewers, with a 4.3/13 share in the 18–49 demographic, making it the most-watched program of the night. The special brought Fox its best ratings of the 2015–16 television season since the second season premiere of ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' in September 2015, which was seen by 16.18 million viewers. The overall and demographic ratings also beat NBC's December 2015 presentation of ''The Wiz Live!'', with 6% higher viewership overall, and 30% higher 18-49 ratings. While both competed against

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

games, ''The Wiz'' competed against a regular-season ''

Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to 20 ...

'' game on CBS, and ''Grease'' against the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

on ESPN. Over 1.2 million

posts were made throughout the airing, with most providing condolences for Hudgens' father. An encore of ''Grease Live'' on March 27, 2016,

Easter Sunday Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

, was seen by 1.54 million viewers. TiVo Inc. estimated that Hudgens' solo of "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" was the most replayed scene of the special.

Accolades

International broadcasts

In Canada, ''Grease Live'' was aired by

CTV CTV may refer to: Television * Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet North America and South America * CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media ** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...

, in simulcast with the Fox broadcast. The special aired on February 2 in Australia (

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television ne ...

), February 3 in the United Kingdom (

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial station ...

), February 5 in New Zealand (

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

), February 7 in Norway ( FEM), February 20 in Denmark ( TV2 Fri), and in Italy August 21 (dubbed) ( Rai 4). In Latin America, it was broadcast by FOX Family on April 24, 2016, (dubbed). It was broadcast in Sweden by the public service network (

SVT1 SVT1 (SVT Ett; commonly referred to as Ettan) is the primary television station of the Swedish public service broadcaster Sveriges Television in Sweden. History Television in Sweden officially launched on 4 September 1956 with the launch of '' ...

) on June 12, 2016. It was broadcast in The Netherlands by RTL 8 on July 22, 2016. In Singapore, it was broadcast on

Mediacorp Mediacorp Pte. Ltd., doing business as Mediacorp and stylised as mediacorp, is a media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media prope ...

Channel 5 on Christmas night, December 25, 2016. In

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, it was broadcast on

6ter 6ter (pronounced: ister is a French television network which is available free-to-air through digital terrestrial television, satellite and DSL. It is a subsidiary of the Groupe M6; the name 6ter has been selected for the channel as M6's little "s ...

on December 26, 2016.

Home media

''Grease Live'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and Digital HD, on March 8, 2016. It was included in the 40th anniversary collection

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...

alongside '' Grease'' and '' Grease 2'', which was released on April 24, 2018.

References

External links

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