Attempting to recreate the magic of the hit 1978 movie “Grease”, the live action, televised adaptation “Grease: Live!” stepped up to the challenge and succeeded. “Grease: Live!” broadcasted on January 31, 2016, on FOX with 12.2 million viewers tuning in. Director Thomas Kail did a nice job of balancing multiple stages and camera angles that gave the show an overall exciting vibe. However, a few dull moments caused by technical difficulties were inevitable. The major glitches included the awkward moment when the sound dropped during the Hand-Jive dance number and the static during Julianne Hough’s “Hopelessly Devoted to You.” Despite the problems, Kail and the entire production team did a great job of blending live broadway and television to create an “onstage” energy that almost seemed impossible to be live. Marie Tripp, art teacher at WHHS, loved the production. “Grease is one of my all time favorite movies so I was a little skeptical about the production” says Tripp.  “I was so happily surprised with “Grease: Live!”, especially the upbeat energy of the show and the dance routines”.

Leads Hough as “Sandy” and Aaron Tveit as “Danny Zuko” did surprisingly better than expected. The standards left by original actors Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta made the acting done by Hough and Tveit fall flat, but their dance abilities in the live numbers were impressive. Supporting roles Keke Palmer as “Marty” and Carly Rae Jepsen as “Frenchy” lit up the stage. But of all the roles, Vanessa Hudgens (Rizzo) had an unbelievable performance.  Just a few hours after the final dress rehearsal on Saturday afternoon, Hudgens had received the tragic news that her father, Greg, had passed away of cancer. Sunday morning, Hudgens tweeted, “tonight, I do the show in his honor” and that she did.  Despite the devastating news, Hudgens performance was stunning, and her emotional solo “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” was heartwarming. In conclusion, the show was a hit. Like any live broadcast, the technical issues were expected but Kail did an outstanding job as a director.