Grease Live! is the Word!

Source: Grease Live! (2016) (imdb.com)

So now I have finished writing my Mary Poppins review, I finally have had the chance to type up my thought's on Fox's Grease Live! (which was aired on Wednesday on ITV2 here in the UK), based on the 1972 musical written by Jim Casey and Warren Jacobs, and the classic 1978 film starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta.

Grease Live! has now been seen by millions of people in the past few days and, in my opinion, for good reason because it was a really enjoyable time to just let your hair out and have a dance in front of the TV. There has now been a recent trend with these live TV musicals and I think other than the ITV version of The Sound of Music Live!, this is the most enjoyable one I have seen.
The biggest difference than the other live TV musicals, was that this is the first one to have included a live audience, sitting on high school bleachers, and even though I think it only worked to an extent (it did sometimes seem like X Factor, depending on the scene), it did at other times offer a really good atmosphere.

The cast included stars as Julianne Hough as Sandy, Carly Rae Jepson as Frenchy, Keke Palmer as Marty and Boys II Men as Teen Angel, with Jessie J singing the titular song. But I would like to mention 3 who I think stole the show.

Firstly, is the Principal, played by Ana Gasteyer. Her comic timing was INSANE, particularly the school announcement after the dance. I'm going to leave it there as I don't really want to give anything more away.. =P

Secondly is the BEAUTIFUL Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko. When I heard he was cast, I knew he was going to be perfect for the part, and he absolutely smashed it! I think I couldn't have been the only one who melted a little at how smooth he was - and to be perfectly honest, I think his version of Sandy was better than Travolta's. He was probably a lot of people's fantasy choice to play Danny and he did an AMAZING job.

And finally, I cannot do this without mentioning Vanessa Hudgens, who played bad girl Rizzo. The complete opposite of Hudgen's breakout role, HSM's Gabriella Montez, she played the role like it was MADE for her, with her rendition of There Are Worse Things I Could Do being on of the highlights of the whole thing for me, as it was for many other people. Her performance could well be game-changing for Hudgens, and putting any speculation that she could play Rizzo to rest.
And to add into the mix, Hudgen's father passed away just hours before broadcast (the show was dedicated to him), and you have one talented lady! Well done Vanessa!

The final thing I need to mention is the direction by Thomas Kail, who has most recently directed Hamilton, which is currently taking Broadway by STORM, as it must have been one BIG job getting it all together.

All in all, Grease Live! is well worth a watch on catch-up, especially if you've a rotten day and need just a bit of Greased Lightning to cheer you up =)