Grease Live recieves a “lightning” review

Grease Live recieves a “lightning” review

At 7 p.m. on Sunday January 31 musical theater enthusiasts everywhere gathered around their televisions to watch a special performance—a live production of an adapted version of “Grease” the movie.

Starring Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo, KeKe Palmer as Marty, Julianne Hough as Sandy, Carly Rae Jepsen as Frenchy, and Carlos PenaVega as Kenickie, there was definitely a Hollywood feel to the production.

Jacob Leaf ’17 described the cast as all people who could sing well and “not unnecessarily cast celebrities; it was a cast of young, talented, experienced actor and actresses.”

The show was one of many that Fox has hosted, including the “Sound of Music,” “Peter Pan” and “the Wiz” as past productions.

Leaf thinks that Grease was definitely the best Fox live show to date. Jack Norman ’17 shares a similar opinion to Kail.

“I think that it was a really good presentation of the show,” Norman said. “I think it was the best live show that they have done yet.”

Thomas Kail, most known for his work with Broadway shows, directed the show. The production included songs from both the original production, the movie and additional songs not included in either the movie or the play.

Katie Lee Sullivan ’16 liked the production’s new aspects to the old story. “The show reflected the movie well but they put their own little twists in it which I enjoyed,” Sullivan said.

Leaf, Norman and Sullivan all described the ending of the show as being particularly exciting. Norman enjoyed the last two numbers because of their liveliness, while Sullivan and Kail enjoyed the bowing at the end because of the apparent relief and excitement the cast felt.

Julia Mandelbaum ’16 is especially a fan of the idea of the production itself. “I think that it’s really great that large networks like Fox and NBC are using television to spread theatre to places that wouldn’t otherwise receive live theatre.”