Live TV musicals sure have changed. The last one I watched was NBC’s Sound of Music Live! in 2013, which seemed to be the most hate-watched event of that year. It was entertaining in all of the wrong ways, leading to countless snarky jokes on Twitter about Carrie Underwood and Stephen Moyer’s performances. Actual legit Broadway performers like Laura Benanti, Christian Borle and Audra McDonald were on hand in supporting roles, but even they couldn’t steer the ship back on course. The staging was uninspired. The lack of a live audience to actually provide applause after every song was offputting.
Or at least those seem like the kinds of things I should say. I honestly don’t remember Sound of Music Live! that clearly because even when I watched it in 2013 I was only half-watching it. The other half of my attention was drawn Twitter where many, many outraged users who clearly had a passion for live theater were quick to declare that Sound of Music Live! was bad live theater. It was a fun experience, but I still skipped NBC’s follow-ups Peter Pan Live! (which was reportedly awful) and The Wiz Live! (which was reportedly much better).
I was intrigued by Fox’s first foray in the live musical game, Grease: Live, mostly because the producer had been talking a good game, promising a far more inventive production with multiple stages, outdoor scenes and a live audience which would be incorporated into the show. Still, truth be told, I expected another trainwreck best enjoyed with the company of your favorite Twitter friends, all of whom know way more about musicals than you.
I was wrong. Grease: Live was amazing, as in “a complete game changer” amazing. As the AV Club argued, “Unlike NBC’s previous stage-bound live musicals, Fox’s Grease: Live was a 360 degree event that blended theatricality and filmmaking in ways never seen onscreen before.”
Tveit and Hough
Sure, Aaron Tveit and Julianne Hough were all wrong as Danny and Sandy, but when they weren’t talking and instead singing and dancing they were far from embarrassing. In fact, holy hell can Julianne Hough dance.
Sure, there was an odd dynamic to the whole thing where some of the performers went big and theatrical and others strived for something more natural.
Sure, the often slavish devotion to the movie, right down to the dance choreography, was a tad lazy.
Sure, the new song they wrote for Carly Rae Jepsen’s version of Frenchy felt entirely like a song from a different musical, simply filling time before Boyz II Men delivered their Motown take on “Beauty School Dropout.”
Sure, it wasn’t flawless. The audio dropped out for a bit during the school dance scene, and there were also some audio issues during Hough’s belting of “Hopelessly Devoted.”
Sure, the little new jokes they added to the dialog about the differences in technology for teenagers back in the 1950s compared to today (e.g., TV screen sizes, reality television and Netflix were all referenced) didn’t quite land.
And, sure, the actual show itself is a troubling artifact from a different era with flawed gender politics and often nonsense lyrics.
Wait, where was I going with this? Didn’t I say Grease: Live was amazing? Oh, yes. That’s right – it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Certain sequences felt like a live TV version of some of the more avante garde moments from Birdman, with ingeniously staged continuous shots aided by seamless set and costume changes, which usually happened with little advanced warning.
As THR put it:
The little things that fell short of polished paled in comparison to the things that landed against all odds. I’m thinking of the transition from Pink Lady sleepover to USO stage that turned “Freddy My Love” from a typical afterthought into a real showcase for Keke Palmer’s Marty. I’m thinking of the school dance numbers punctuated by cameras craning across the length of a basketball court and other cameras making their way unobtrusively through a maelstrom of writhing bodies. I’m thinking of the immaculate stagecraft that allowed the Thunder Road car race to go from potentially cheesy into a wholly entertaining orchestration of lighting, smoke effects and camera moves. I’m thinking of the opening and closing numbers and their ability to take the show from stages into the outside world. NBC has made a winter tradition of live theater that, at its best, feels like it’s live theater, but Grease: Live showed if you have that desired vision, live television needn’t have any barriers.
People who actually work in theater were marveling on Twitter that what we were watching was a minor miracle, noting that Grease: Live was pulling it off its intricate staging without even a single instance of a stray camera man accidentally walking into the background of someone else’s shot. What director Thomas Kail, best known for Hamilton, set out to do was insanely ambitious, and what he accomplished is the new gold standard for what can be done in the live TV musical format.
As the cast exited the stage and piled into golf carts to drive to an actual outdoor carnival all while still singing “We Go Together,” the energy was palpable. You knew they had a big finish up their sleeve, and by that point you were rooting for them to nail it, capping off untold hours of insanely hard work and preparation. The scenario unfolding before you was surely goofy, considering that they were openly acknowledging that they were just a bunch of actors putting on a show, driving around the old Warner Bros. studio lot in the process. But, wow, when the show they put on was that good you wanted them to stick the landing and take a much deserved bow.
And of course they did.
We’ve been @kn8 and @tara_abell. Thanks for hand-jiving with us! #GreaseLive pic.twitter.com/KhOcxreInO
— Vulture (@vulture) February 1, 2016
Still, Twitter had to have its say, and here some of the best reactions:
In General
I bet NBC's Hairspray Live producers are watching this like, "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…" #GreaseLive
— Marc Bernardin (@marcbernardin) February 1, 2016
Has Julianne Hough made a shoutout to DIRTY GRANDPA yet? #GreaseLive
— Rob Trench (@robtrench) February 1, 2016
#GreaseLive: A Paramount production, shot on the Warner Bros. lot, for Fox, starring former Disney/ABC stars
— Michael Schneider (@franklinavenue) February 1, 2016
FOX just greenlit "Rydell," which depicts Danny Zucko as a 12-year old boy.
— Ryan McGee (@TVMcGee) February 1, 2016
They changed Sandy from an Australian to a Mormon and tbh this story finally makes sense now. #GreaseLive
— Jesse McLaren (@McJesse) February 1, 2016
ok, I really hate the lyric "the chicks'll cream for Greased Lightning," but how does that get cut and "go flog your log" stays? #GreaseLive
— Caroline Framke (@carolineframke) February 1, 2016
#GreaseLive First impressions. Is Danny repeating high school for the…20th time?
— marti noxon (@martinoxon) February 1, 2016
The Pink Ladies were the original Mean Girls. #GreaseLive
— Damian Holbrook (@damianholbrook) February 1, 2016
This is already 10x better than anything NBC has produced. #GreaseLive
— Dave Spy (@Theatreboy81) February 1, 2016
Blanche is me at work every Monday #GreaseLive pic.twitter.com/crV732NS5o
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) February 1, 2016
Kids, this is what Instagram used to look like back in the day. #GreaseLive pic.twitter.com/mnpftE8BPC
— Us Weekly (@usweekly) February 1, 2016
During “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee”
Why don't my friends have a bunch of blonde wigs lying around? #GreaseLive
— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) February 1, 2016
During “Tell Me More”
Is this what guys had to do before porn? #TellMeMore #GreaseLive
— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) February 1, 2016
Related: Is this what girls had to do before Nicholas Sparks? #TellMeMore #GreaseLive
— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) February 1, 2016
Freaking Out Over Original Frenchy Didi Conn (as the Waitress at the Frosty Palace) Meeting New Frenchy Carly Rae Jepsen
When Frenchy met Frenchy on #GreaseLive https://t.co/y5BzkFCk5s pic.twitter.com/84zvVCKV8E
— Jezebel (@Jezebel) February 1, 2016
During the National Bandstand Sequence Featuring Mario Lopez as Vince Fontaine
Why do we get the feeling this role isn't much of a stretch for #MarioLopez? #GreaseLive
— Wonderwall (@Wonderwall) February 1, 2016
We said we wanted a live audience. We got intermittent cheering and people staring blanky into the camera. #GreaseLive
— Louis Peitzman (@LouisPeitzman) February 1, 2016
In 2016 the hand jive is just emoji!!!! 👍🏼✊🏼✋🏼👐🏼👋🏼👏🏼
— Marc Snetiker (@MarcSnetiker) February 1, 2016
Fully screamed in my apartment at this particular piece of insane choreography #GreaseLive pic.twitter.com/bH0csAAV36
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) February 1, 2016
PLEASE CALL HER “MAMA,” @MarioLopezExtra — YOU’RE IN A HIGH SCHOOL GYM. #GreaseLive
— Tony Maglio (@TonyMaglio) February 1, 2016
After They Snuck in a Joke About Netflix (Without Actually Using the Word Netflix) at the Drive-In Scene
Why back in my day, we had to drive 20miles to get to our Netflix! #GreaseLive
— Jasmine Pierce (@jasminecomedy) February 1, 2016
During “Hopelessly Devoted”
I would live in Sandy’s @FoxTV set house, running water or not. #GreaseLive
— Tony Maglio (@TonyMaglio) February 1, 2016
Re-Assessing the Show’s Troubling Gender Politics
Honestly, it pains my soul that Grease is a movie that little girls love. Because it is the WORST story for a preteen anyone. #GreaseLive
— Marc Bernardin (@marcbernardin) February 1, 2016
"Your worth is defined by how the opposite sex sees you, so become what they want to do be so they'll sleep with you." #GreaseLive
— Marc Bernardin (@marcbernardin) February 1, 2016
If you're upset by the gender politics, know I did a whole college winter term project on women in musicals, and it's not alone. #GreaseLive
— Linda Holmes (@nprmonkeysee) February 1, 2016
Praising Vanessa Hudgen’s Performance of “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” By Referencing the Fact That Her Dad Just Died the Night Before the Show
Imagine you had Vanessa Hudgens' day, and doing that.
What a superhero.
In total awe.— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) February 1, 2016
Impossible not to get extra emotional from Vanessa Hudgens on "There Are Worse Things I Could Do.” Well done. #GreaseLive
— Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint) February 1, 2016
Mocking the Car Race Sequence
This is the weirdest episode of Sons of Anarchy ever.
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) February 1, 2016
Both actors should also periodically yell “VROOOOOM!” to complete the Thunder Road illusion. #GreaseLive
— Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint) February 1, 2016
I get it, now: #Grease is just Fast and the Furious: Year One. NOS injections and unrequited male love. IT'S SO CLEAR TO ME. #GreaseLive
— Marc Bernardin (@marcbernardin) February 1, 2016
I didn't expect them to win the race contest. pic.twitter.com/oGnUabx5f2
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) February 1, 2016
🎤Go greased lightening
You're awesome while you drive in place 🎤 #GreaseLive— Bethany Watson (@RadioBethany) February 1, 2016
Stressing Over the Ending
All us feminists getting ready to hide under a table during the extremely hinky conclusion of Grease. #NotAllMusicals #ButThisMusical #Hinky
— Mo Ryan (@moryan) February 1, 2016
Live television, folks! #GreaseLive pic.twitter.com/PKkjY1sntk
— Vulture (@vulture) February 1, 2016
Yay! They survived the Warner Brothers Studio Tour and got to the carnival in one piece! #GreaseLive
— Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint) February 1, 2016
“We’ll always be together” — the high school friend whose name you can’t remember #GreaseLive
— Frank Ramblings (@FrankRamblings) February 1, 2016
Summing It Up
I guess my review of #greaselive is "I'm very horny."
— Chris Kelly (@imchriskelly) February 1, 2016
NBC seriously has to step up their live musical game in 2016 #GreaseLive
— Frank Ramblings (@FrankRamblings) February 1, 2016
The last two hours were a fantastic realization of an incredibly problematic musical. (Print THAT, Fox.) #GreaseLive
— Ryan McGee (@TVMcGee) February 1, 2016
There are a lot of studio executives trying to figure out how to get Thomas Kail to direct a superhero movie. Or… anything.
— Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint) February 1, 2016
The cast and crew of #GreaseLive is getting unimaginably drunk tonight. Unfathomably drunk.
— Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint) February 1, 2016
Everyone was incredible tonight. Well done @juliannehough @VanessaHudgens @AaronTveit the whole cast and the CREW! #GreaseLive
— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) February 1, 2016
