What’s the name of this show? Grease: Live  When does it premiere? It airs Sunday 31 January at 7pm ET on Fox. Those in select markets can stream it on Fox.com, because we live in the future.  This is Grease like the original Grease, right? Yes sir. It’s a slightly updated version of the beloved Broadway musical about high school in the 50s that was turned into the 1978 movie starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta. Since it was retro in the first place it’s not so much updated as adapted for television.  Who plays Danny and Sandy? Julianne Hough, the Dancing with the Stars breakout and former Ryan Seacrest crush, plays Sandy. Aaron Tveit takes on the role of Danny.  Aaron say what? Yeah, he’s not really a household name. He’s well known on Broadway for roles in Next to Normal and Catch Me If You Can. You might have seen him on Gossip Girl, the Les Miz movie, or on USA’s show Graceland. Oh, and let’s not forget his collection of shirtless gifs.  Are they as old as Newton-John and Travolta were when they made the movie? At 27, Julianna Hough is three years younger than Newton-John was when she played Sandy. Travolta was 24, but Tveit is 32, putting him way out of high school range.  Who else is in it? Vanessa Hudgens takes on the role of Rizzo, the tough-girl leader of the Pink Ladies, and pop star Carly Rae Jepsen is Frenchie. Rounding out the girl group are Keke Palmer from Scream Queens as Marty; and Kether Donohue, who is amazing in You’re the Worst, as Jan. Throughout the night you’ll also see Mario Lopez, Ana Gasteyer, Boyz II Men, Jessie J, Joe Jonas and Eve Plumb, the original Jan Brady.  Is it going to be any different than the original? It should be pretty much the same, though Fox has changed some things around to make it a little less racy. There also won’t be any smoking, so the ladies are going to have to find another way to break the rules.  Is it going to be good? The only comparable recent events we have to go off are NBC’s three musicals, which have all been campy though some (The Wiz) have been more successful than others (Peter Pan). Grease: Live however is directed by Thomas Kail, who brought Hamilton to the stage, the hottest musical to hit Broadway for aeons, so rather than a trashy hate-watch, this should be of a genuinely high quality.  As for the show itself, if you love Grease you’re sure to get a kick out of seeing a new production and if you don’t, well, Downton Abbey is on. But there are so many classic songs – Grease Lightning, You’re the One that I Want, Summer Nights, just to name a few – that it should be a good time for everyone.  Didn’t we have a live musical just a few months ago? Yes, The Wiz Live!, but that was on NBC. This is on Fox. Also there will be a live studio audience, so you’ll hear applause after all the numbers instead of the creepy silence that follows the numbers on NBC.  Why are there so many live musicals all of the sudden? The easy answer is because everyone keeps watching them. When NBC did The Sound of Music Live! in 2013 more than 19 million people watched. That means they watched the commercials too. In this age of DVRs, YouTube and Netflix, it’s almost impossible to get people to watch anything except sports live and, most importantly, with the commercials.  Is this like sports? There will be a lot of really fit, rather attractive young people running around trying to achieve an uncertain goal for the roar of the crowd so, yes, I guess it is a bit like sports.  Are the ratings for this going to be as high? I would guess yes. This is airing earlier and on a Sunday night which should attract a huge audience of children and families. Grease is the highest-grossing movie musical of all time and is something of an institution in the same way The Sound of Music is. If anything is going to break its record, it will be Grease.  What is the appeal of showing this live? It’s the same appeal of any live televised event: hoping that someone drastically messes up so that we can have a gif of them falling/flubbing their lines/lip syncing badly to shame them with on the internet for the rest of their careers. Also it gets people using the social medias to snark along, which always makes for a much better time.  What should I serve while watching this? Grease is an American institution at this point so maybe hot dogs and apple pie. Either that or Spam.
The network’s first foray into live musicals will be the one that you want with celebrities, surprises and a live studio audience