Grease: Live – Recap

Last night was the much anticipated Grease: Live on Fox and I for one was excited to see it. Although the movie came out in the 70s, the decade before I was born, it was still a huge part of my childhood. I watched Grease more times than I can count when I was little and had all the songs memorized. I distinctly remember belting out “Hopelessly Devoted To You” and dancing around my family room as the movie played. To add to my love of the singing and dancing in the movie, my aunt used to take my brother and me to one Broadway show a year since we are a train ride away from NYC. I think Grease was my first ever show and I believe Rosie O’Donnell was playing Rizzo at the time.

Anyway, the point is I love the musical and movie, so how did the live TV production fare? Well, I’ve always wanted to write one of those running commentaries because I always enjoy reading them so much so I thought I would give it a try with this!

• I love that they involved the audience and make no illusions that this isn’t happening on a sound stage.
• Jessie J singing “Grease is the Word” is a great and energetic intro!
• The rainy LA weather didn’t deter the show and they rolled with it by holding umbrellas when performing outside.
• Love Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko! I love how versatile he is (Remember him as Tripp on Gossip Girl?!) – from action/dramatic roles like as an FBI agent in Graceland to being in Les Miserables.
• I was hesitant to how Julianne Hough would be as Sandy, but her entrance gives me a good feeling with her sweet, innocent look.
• Yes! “Summer Nights” is my favorite song! The whole number had me smiling!
• I could do without these new songs that they decided to include in this live performance.
• Vanessa Hudgens’ “Sandra Dee” performance was great!
• Not sure if I think the chemistry between the Pink Ladies or the T-Birds is better but both groups are good so far, especially performing live.
• The choreography and performances for “Grease Lightning” was high energy and highly entertaining! Carlos PenaVega is doing a pretty good job as Kenickie.
• Who is this guy playing Doody?! His rendition of “Those Magic Changes” is so smooth and swoon worthy.
• The original Frenchie playing the waitress and talking to Carly Rae Jepsen’s Frenchie is a sweet moment.
• Another original song? No thanks.
• Boyz II Men singing “Beauty School Dropout”!
• Surprise! Joe Jonas performing at the dance. I don’t remember them promoting him being on the show.
• “Born to Hand Jive” was so fun to watch. Makes me want to dance!
• “Hopelessly Devoted To You” – this is my moment! And yes, I’m singing along.
• I want to go to a drive-in!
• Vanessa Hudgens gives an emotional and powerful performance singing “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”.
• I don’t remember if the racing scene is the same as the Broadway production but I remember the movie and this production went about Kenickie’s injury differently having Danny purposely injure him so he could bow out of the race and save face. This choice makes the story have a stronger friendship theme.
• I like the little jokes they slip in like “red dye #2” and Sandy (Julianne Hough, Miss Dancing with the Stars herself) saying the line about how no one would be interested in watching amateurs in a dance competition
• “You’re the One that I want” – Aaron Tveit and Julianne Hough look hot together!
• The final number, “We’ll Always Be Together” and the whole finale looked like so much fun – like a big party to celebrate their production! And I like that they road the golf carts from the soundstage out onto the lot for the whole carnival part.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. Some takeaways – I’ve been a fan of Aaron Tveit for years now and he was incredible as Danny Zuko. Plus he’s 10x hotter than John Travolta. Just sayin’. Julianne Hough pleasantly surprised me as Sandy. Maybe it’s because sometimes she annoys me on DWTS, but girl is talented. I seriously applaud Vanessa Hudgens. Her father passed away the night before and she still came out and performed like a champ. She gave an amazing performance as Rizzo and I can’t imagine how difficult it was for her to do. She’s a star in my book.

Did any of you watch? If you did, what’d you think?