Grease Live On Fox (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

FOX's live production of "Grease" aired tonight. I thought I'd set it to record, but much to my dismay, it didn't.

The reviews seem to be mostly positive, with the bulk of reviewers finding the performances between servicable and praiseworthy, and just about everybody applauding the spectacle of Thomas Kail's production.

It's not the same as experiencing the event live as it happens, but I hope Fox re-airs it or makes it available on demand.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Oh, Adam. Too bad.

I just finished watching. I cannot believe how good it was. It was inventive. Used the medium perfectly. Used th "live" aspect perfectly and handled the material perfectly.

It had amazingly high energy and was so, so much better than I thought it was going to be.

There was one moment when the audio disappeared (during born-to-hand jive) and until the commercial break became center channel only with static in the front L/R. But otherwise it was near perfect in production. So creative that I'm going to be thinking about this broadcast for a very long time to come.

They nailed it to the wall. A spectacular effort. And Julainne Hough is my new crush. I saw the film of Grease several times during it's original theatrical run and had a huge crush on ONJ. This production has given me a new crush. It's okay, though, I admitted it to my wife!

I thought the new song for Carly Rae Jepson was a disappointment. Vanessa Hudgens was a revelation. I had never seen her in anything before. The guys were all...okay.

I thought it was inspired that they had Didi Conn in the cast. Very cool. I never knew that Eve Plumb had a part. I never realized it was her until checking IMDB after the broadcast. And Ana Gasteyer was perfectly cast as the principal.

One of my few complaints is that Aaron Tveit (destined for crossword puzzle infamy), who played Danny, relied a bit too much on Travolta's mannerisms for his role.

Spectacular (And I just can't believe I'm saying it)!

 

[Matt Hough]

I had so many shows on opposite one another last night that I had the DVR going full blast and had to watch Galavant and Downton Abbey over-the-air. Thus, I recorded Grease Live! but I haven't watched it yet.

During the commercial breaks in Galavant, I'd flip over to Fox to watch what was going on in Grease, and I generally liked what I saw. Saw some of restaurant scene with the guys and girls and some of the gym dance, but I won't get to watch the whole thing beginning to end until tonight (unless nothing to review arrives. If that happens, I'll watch it this afternoon).

I did think it looked a little strange with the audience in gym bleachers during that scene, but rather than jiving with the music as people do at a dance, they were sitting intently watching. I understood why they weren't moving (they're an audience, not actors), but I did find it somewhat disconcerting to the ambiance of the scene.

Anyway, more of my opinions later. I hope Fox releases the show on Blu-ray, and then I'll get a chance to do a thorough review.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Another bone to pick was that the cast's audio was too low during the musical numbers all night. Hopefully that can be fied for the home video release (there better be a Blu!).

Oh. And the sets and costumes were incredible! the combination of sets and the clever camera work had me wondering all night how they were pulling off certain things without showing camera men.

The school gym set was amazing as they did numerous 360-degree shots showing it was an enclosed set. A LOT of thought went into the staging and production and it showed.

I was much more captivated by the actual production, last night, than the original source material. But, put together, it made for a wholly satisfying event and I was glad I tuned in.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Let me just say that the film, "Grease", is an all-time favorite of mine from the 1970's. It's hard for me to let go of that film's casting for subsequent incarnations. Travolta's and Newton-John's chemistry is a high bar to conquer.

So, the Crewreography (they invented that word for the film crew's choreography needed to film the segments and stay out of the camera frame, even with swirling camerawork) was pretty solid for a 3-hour live performance.

Some flubs:

There was a 10-second audio drop-out during the school dance segment.

Also, right after Sandy runs away from the dance, she has her own solo, and the audio was all static, then they cut in some bits from the earlier "Greased Lightning" performance, and quick snips of commercials (trying to fix the audio), and then cut back to Hough's remainder of her solo, with less static, but unfortunately, it did mar the presentation.

Didn't really like most of Aaron Tveit's performance (just wrong casting to my eyes). I like him as "Mike" on "Graceland". He's eyes are too squinty. He just didn't really inhabit the Danny Zuko character to my liking. Julianne Hough's voice was good, though, some of those songs sung by ON-J really never go away from my recollection, so it always sounds weird when someone else sings the songs. I knew she'd kill all of the dancing and cheerleading bits, though.

I don't think I liked any of the casting for the guys in Danny's gang. I didn't think Carlos PenaVega came close to Jeff Conaway's Kenickie. Vanessa Hudgens was good as Rizzo, but Stockard Channing had this underbite to her performance that nailed some of the angst of her character's situation, along with being a mean girl in that time period. I know I'm being harsh on some of the casting. But I'm glad a new generation has been exposed to "Grease" now. Though I have to say, some of the overt advances and guy-talk about chicks is a little too on the nose, but it reflects the 1950s attitude towards the sexes, I suppose.

 

[Greg.K]

Too many commercial breaks, some of the new material (such as the CRJ song) didn't really work for me, but overall I thought it was very well done and definitely took advantage of what could be done with a televised theatrical performance with all of the different sets. The cast was fine IMO. They definitely set a high bar for future televised musical events.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I watched my DVR recording, so the commercial breaks were quickly skipped on my end.

 

[David_B_K]

I enjoyed the telecast. I guess it was a sort of "live movie". I was totally unfamiliar with the entire cast, and especially liked Julianne Hough. My only complaints were the brief audio cut out, and the rather low level of volume for the singers.that Mike alluded to.

I DVR'd it and didn't start watching until about an hour in, so I "missed" the commercials.

 

[Garysb]

I thought this was more a live version of the movie instead of the Broadway show whose book was much differnt with some songs added than a live

I enjoyed the telecast. I guess it was a sort of "live movie". I was totally unfamiliar with the entire cast, and especially liked Julianne Hough. My only complaints were the brief audio cut out, and the rather low level of volume for the singers.that Mike alluded to.

I DVR'd it and didn't start watching until about an hour in, so I "missed" the commercials.

I am guessing if they repeat the show on Fox or release a DVD they will be able to correct any live errors using a tape of the dress rehearsal which I am assuming they made. Some posters have mentioned the show was advertised to be released on DVD soon.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Oh, Adam. Too bad.

I just finished watching. I cannot believe how good it was. It was inventive. Used the medium perfectly. Used th "live" aspect perfectly and handled the material perfectly.

It had amazingly high energy and was so, so much better than I thought it was going to be.

There was one moment when the audio disappeared (during born-to-hand jive) and until the commercial break became center channel only with static in the front L/R. But otherwise it was near perfect in production. So creative that I'm going to be thinking about this broadcast for a very long time to come.

They nailed it to the wall. A spectacular effort. And Julainne Hough is my new crush. I saw the film of Grease several times during it's original theatrical run and had a huge crush on ONJ. This production has given me a new crush. It's okay, though, I admitted it to my wife!

I thought the new song for Carly Rae Jepson was a disappointment. Vanessa Hudgens was a revelation. I had never seen her in anything before. The guys were all...okay.

I thought it was inspired that they had Didi Conn in the cast. Very cool. I never knew that Eve Plumb had a part. I never realized it was her until checking IMDB after the broadcast. And Ana Gasteyer was perfectly cast as the principal.

One of my few complaints is that Aaron Tveit (destined for crossword puzzle infamy), who played Danny, relied a bit too much on Travolta's mannerisms for his role.

Spectacular (And I just can't believe I'm saying it)!

I only saw bits and pieces, since we were throwing my mom a birthday party, but based on what I saw, I'll simply quote Mike since I agree with everything he wrote. A pleasant surprise.

And I agree with Garysb that this seemed more like a staging of the movie than of the original show. Not that there's anything wrong with that. (Although. . .thank god the Wiz wasn't done that way!)

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Vanessa Hudgens was a revelation.

It's especially incredible the reviews she's getting, given that she lost her father the day before the broadcast.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I'll simply quote Mike since I agree with everything he wrote. A pleasant surprise.

It's a pleasant surprise for me to have Aaron agree with me!!!

It's especially incredible the reviews she's getting, given that she lost her father the day before the broadcast.

Wow. I didn't know. I tell you, the looks on the cast's faces as that broadcast wound up was one of great accomplishment. They must've been thrilled to get that pressure off their backs. And it seems like they really bonded as a unit. There was one of those breakaway scenes as they were heading into commercial where they showed some clips of the Pink Ladies (some of which included Didi Conn!) and they seemed like they had become quite close.

 

[Matt Hough]

Here's what I wrote about the broadcast in Robert Harris' thread on the show:

I was able to watch it this afternoon.

I was most impressed with the energy of the company, the inventive staging of all of the numbers for TV (even the ones without gimmicks), and the largeness of it all. It seemed like they were using the entire Warners' lot to stage this thing.

I did feel it was too slavish to the movie with costumes too often exact duplicates of the film clothes. Yes, the movie remains in terms of grosses among the highest earning films in musical history, but that doesn't mean costumes and scenes had to adhere so closely to the original. I was thrilled that "Those Magic Changes" got added back into the show but disheartened that "Alone at the Drive-In" was once again jettisoned for "Sandy" (pretty as it is). At least Kenickie here got to sing half of "Greased Lightnin'" (on stage, it's his song) even if Danny got the first two verses. The cleaned-up lyrics worked just fine.

Boys II Men couldn't handle the musicality of "Beauty School Dropout" and had to riff and roll over the notes with too much melisma to do the song justice. In fact, that was my least favorite number in the production with the girl ensemble completely wasted. I didn't think the new Carly song fit the tone and timbre of the stage songs, but then the title disco song written for the film never fit the era either.

As for the live audience, in some ways their energy and enthusiasm were great, and yet I didn't hear one laugh from them over any of the funny lines (you'd think all those double entendres that the principal kept uttering weren't supposed to be funny) and only heard them clapping during the gym numbers and applauding at the ends of most (but not all) the songs.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Carlos Penavega should have been cast as Sonny (Michael Tucci). Kenickie needed to be taller.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Preliminary ratings are in, and they are solid! From eonline:

Grease is the word…for delivering huge ratings that is. Fox's ambitious live musical event, appropriately titled Grease: Live, brought in 12.2 million viewers and a 4.3 same-day rating in the 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary ratings . That's bigger than Danny Zuko's hair and Sandy's at the end of the musical—combined! The ratings could change when finals are released and will likely increase when DVR playback is factored in.

NBC's latest live musical, The Wiz, initially had 11.5 million viewers and a 3.4 rating. The first live NBC musical, The Sound of Music, had a 4.6 rating and 18.6 million viewers and the following year Peter Panaveraged 9.2 million viewers and a 2.4 rating.

 

[Tino]

I missed it too. Hope they rebroadcast.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I missed it too. Hope they rebroadcast.

Fortunately, FOX made it available on its FOXNOW app so I was able to watch it on my Roku. Completely thwarted my original intention to skip commercials by DVRing it and watching it on delay, but I'm still very glad I had the opportunity to experience it.

"The Sound of Music Live!" was a deeply flawed but deeply ambitious undertaking that was worth the time commitment despite its shortcomings. Crucially, it kicked off the return of the live television musical.

"Peter Pan Live!" landed like a dead fish for me. Despite the significant technical advancements, it couldn't hold a candle to my fond memories of watching VHS recordings of rebroadcasts of the Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard telecasts. I didn't make it a third of the way through before bailing.

I missed "The Wiz Live!" because I lost track of the air date. From most accounts it was a far less more theatrical undertaking than the previous two, more designed for the stage, but far more successful from a performance standpoint.

And now comes "Grease Live", which builds on staging accomplishments of the NBC efforts but shakes free of their problems. I have never been a big fan of live episodes of shows, because the limitations imposed upon the production to pull it off never felt worth the gimmick. Thomas Kail's production on this is the first real exception. There were long stretches in this where I completely forgot I was watching a live production. At the same time, Kail embraces the inventiveness and theatricality that stage productions rely on but filmed musicals usually shy away from. The transitions like Frenchy's bedroom opening up into the USO stage being prime examples, but also the glimpses "behind the curtain" with Mario Lopez leading us into each commercial break. It felt optimized for the medium of television in a way none of the others quite nailed; you couldn't have pulled off the logistics and scale of it on stage, but you couldn't have gotten away with some of the indulgences and creative shortcuts with a feature film.

The biggest thing this had going for it, though, was sheer exuberance. The show was a blast from beginning to end, and the cast was really projecting to the cheap seats in the back of the metaphorical theater.

We all expected Julianne Hough to nail the choreography, and she did, but the real surprise was how great she was as a musical actress. I liked her in Rock of Ages, but that was so heavily produced, I didn't know how much of her vocals were carefully sculpted in the studio. But she acquitted herself very well tonight.

I thought Aaron Tveit was interesting as Danny. He's very different than my conception of the character, but he wore the role well. The divide between Danny with Sandy and Danny with the T-Birds was better defined in his performance than a lot of the takes I've seen on the character. It's probably the less believable approach, but it helps justify why Sandy was so taken in by him during their summer lovin'.

I'll join the chorus and say that Vanessa Hudgens was the standout of the show. And Stockard Channing was (in my opinion) the high water mark of the film cast, so she had a lot to live up to. To underscore the difference in the caliber of the performance, compare Hudgens's musical numbers as Rizzo to Carly Rae Jepsen's number in the diner as Frenchy. Hudgens nails every lyric she's has, but she never breaks character. It's Rizzo singing those songs. Jepsen is perfectly passable as Frenchy during the dialog scenes, and she's a fine singer during the musical numbers. But the two have nothing to do with each other; when she's acting, she's Frenchy. When she's singing, she's back to Carly Rae Jepsen. When Hudgens gets to "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" you feel every ounce of what Rizzo is feeling, especially the wounded vulnerability peeking out from behind the fierce, combative persona she presents to others. That is the mark of a great musical performer.

Loved Ana Gasteyer as Principal McGee. She extracted every ounce of sardonic humor out of every line. Haneefah Wood was also great as Blanche.

The other T-Birds didn't really stand out, but they didn't detract, either. They provided what I required of them.

Keke Palmer has been on my radar since Akeelah and the Bee, and she was terrific here as Marty Maraschino. The character is a very particular kind of Italian-American stereotype, and it was interesting to see Palmer take those core elements of the character and filter them through a different cultural lens. Is the casting true to the reality of 1959? Probably not, but the important thing is that it works. I particularly enjoyed her long-awaited meeting with the host of National Bandstand, and the reaction of Palmer's Marty to the reality without television as an intermediary.

Really great to see Didi Conn pop up as Vi the waitress. It was also fun to see Barry Pearl pop up as the National Bandstand producer.

And the end, when "You're the One That I Want" was set amidst the fair booths inside the gymnasium set, I was worried that they'd been forced to relocate due to weather. Imagine my delight when they all hopped on the studio trams and arrived at the full scale outdoor carnival set for "We Go Together". The aerial shots were a nice homage to the film's ending, as well.

All in all, an exciting new chapter in live televised musicals. All involved should be proud of their achievement.

EDIT: Forgot to mention Elle McLemore, who gave an often hilarious pure Broadway performance as Patty. A role that could have faded into the background with a lesser performer but shone bright as embodied by McLemore.

 

[Wayne_j]

I watched this on Hulu today, much better than the previous NBC efforts. They talked about ordering on DVD and Digital Download, likely no Blu.

 

[Mike Frezon]

We've all been admiring the technical work that went into this production.

Well, here is a rare insight into a few moments of the technical director calling the shots during the Greased Lightning number. My jaw dropped as I watched this consummate professional go about her business. No matter what level of understanding you might have about television production, I think you'll agree that this is quite a clip:



I am thrilled I got a chance to see this clip. As someone who has spent a good deal of their professional career in TV production--not nearly at this level--I am gobsmacked by it.

Here is the description that accompanied the clip of Facebook:

Carrie Havel

A lot of people have asked what it means to be the Associate Director on a show like Grease Live. Here's a peek behind the curtain. Every shot in the show was designed and scripted by our director Alex Rudzinski. My job was to execute that plan. You hear me calling shot numbers and camera moves carefully coordinated with the music. My head stays in the script and Alex, to my right, keeps an eye on cameras to adjust framing and pacing. #GreaseLive

 

[Wayne_j]

Here is a long review of the production that was recorded Sunday night. 2 of the 3 people on it were in the live audience.