TV Week COVER STORY Beloved musical opened off-Broadway in 1971

Live version of Grease debuts tonight

Beloved musical opened off-Broadway in 1971

Julianne Hough in Grease
Julianne Hough in Grease

OK all you baby boomers, time to don your poodle skirts and white tees and head back to Rydell High and the Frosty Palace!

Grease: Live, a one-night musical extravaganza performed before a live audience, airs from 6 to 9 p.m. today on Fox.

Did I mention it was live? It is.

Everybody loves Grease! I heard you out there. You just broke out with a spontaneous chorus of "You Are the One That I Want" (ooh-ooh-ooh, Honey).

Or maybe you were humming, "Summer lovin', had me a blast ..." (all together) "Tell me more, tell me more. Did you get very far?"

That's understandable. Teen lovebirds Sandy and Danny have been a part of our lives ever since the musical opened off-Broadway in 1971. Moving to Broadway in 1972, the musical ran until 1980.

Even better known is the 1978 feature film starring a young (24), chiseled-jawed, dimple-chinned John Travolta and young-ish (30) Olivia Newton-John as high schoolers Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson. The film grossed nearly $400 million worldwide.

Well, it's a new century and a brand new young ensemble.

Grease: Live comes from Thomas Kail, the director of Hamilton, and Marc Platt, the producer of Wicked, and features Dancing With the Stars alumna Julianne Hough (Rock of Ages) as the wholesome Australian exchange student and cheerleader Sandy. Aaron Tveit (Graceland) plays bad boy (or what passed for being bad in 1958) Danny, leader of the leather-clad greaser gang, The T-Birds.

Also on board are Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical) as iconic bad girl Rizzo, queen bee of the Pink Ladies; Keke Palmer (Scream Queens) as sassy Pink Lady Marty Maraschino; and Carlos PenaVega (Big Time Rush) as Kenickie, Danny's tough-guy sidekick.

Also look for singer/songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen (best known for her smash hit "Call Me Maybe") as Frenchy; Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer as Cha Cha; Kether Donohue (You're the Worst) as Jan; David Del Rio as Putzie; Jordan Fisher as Doody; and Andrew Call as Sonny.

Want more? Ana Gasteyer plays Principal McGee, and Mario Lopez stars as dance-show host Vince Fontaine, the role played in the film by Edd "Kookie" Byrnes.

Aside: Kookie? Kids, ask your gramps. Want to feel old? Byrnes (born Edward Byrne Breitenberger) is 82 these days and a long, long way from 77 Sunset Strip.

Also, Boyz II Men portray Teen Angel(s), the role Frankie Avalon played in the film when he came in a vision to the sad Frenchy (she had dropped out of beauty school) and crooned her back into good spirits. In addition, singer Jessie J performs a new version of "Grease (Is the Word)" -- a song written by Barry Gibb -- to kick off the show.

Expect some tinkering for TV, but the live presentation will reintroduce and re-imagine some of the film's most memorable moments to an entirely new generation. Hough says the production will be "a combination of a movie and a Broadway show," using multiple stages inside and out.

All the old familiar questions will be asked.

Can Danny maintain his bad-boy image as the coolest member of The T-Birds once he and Sandy start going together?

Can Sandy remain a good girl even after she joins the Pink Ladies?

With Rizzo and Kenickie pulling them in opposite directions, can Danny and Sandy stay "hopelessly devoted" as they make their way from Rydell High to whatever great adventure awaits after their senior year?

Grease will be the first venture into live musicals for Fox, and it will be the first recent televised musical event to incorporate a studio audience. That is one thing that differentiates it from NBC's live Sound of Music, Peter Pan and most recently, The Wiz.

In the Feb. 1 edition of People, Hough admits feeling the pressure of performing live, but was pleased by encouragement from Newton-John.

"It's huge that I got her blessing," Hough, 27, says. Hough had the opportunity to chat with the original Sandy in October when Newton-John, 67, was a guest judge alongside her on Dancing With the Stars.

But don't expect Hough to be doing an impression of Newton-John's performance.

"She has specific moments in the film, like 'Tell me about it, stud,' where I know people will be disappointed if I don't say it like she did with her inflection," Hough says. "But for the most part, I am doing my own thing."

"I think she's perfect," Newton-John told E! "And I think she'll pull off Sandy I and Sandy II, as I call them, very well."

Style on 01/31/2016

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