The movie musical Grease is 40 years old and all tuned in for a whole new generation to discover. The teens at Rydell High are still crooning about prom night, dropping out of beauty school and heating up the dance floor with “You’re the One That I Want.”
Expectations were minuscule when the John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John film was released in 1978. Based on a Broadway musical, the film about greaser Danny and goody-two-shoes Sandy went on to become the highest grossing musical of the 20th century. It cost Paramount a measly $6 million to make.
To many actors, Grease was an inspiration.
Marilu Henner (Taxi) got her start with the show. “When I was in high school a friend of mine wrote a show and said, ‘We’re going to perform this in a converted trolley barn, and I want you to be a part of it. It’s called Grease.’ So I did the first original production of Grease. When the first national company came up, I got the part!”
For Omar Epps (House), the connection came early. “I did a school play in the sixth grade, and we did Grease,” and I had a really small role. But that high, that connection with the crowd, that was it! I think that was when I was bit by the bug.”
Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical) went on to play Rizzo in Fox’s live version of the show. “I honestly can’t remember the first time I saw Grease,” she says. “I feel like Grease has just always been a part of my life. It’s always been on in my house. I can’t remember my life before Grease almost.”
Although Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) had been acting for 19 years, she says it wasn’t until she did Grease on the stage that she took it seriously.
“I think the difference between wanting to perform and receive approval vs. really going home at night and instead of feeling good because someone likes you and you did a good job — because I really did thrive on being a professional, because you get a lot of approval as a child. … It wasn’t until 1993 when I did Grease, that’s when I really said, ‘I want to give this my best shot.’”
Tom Cavanagh (The Flash, Royal Pains) launched his career in Grease.
“In college I was playing basketball and they do one show there a year and did Grease,” he says. “So I auditioned for role of Danny Zuko, and the basketball guys were adamant that I was too short to be an actor. To which I responded the world does not revolve around an average size of 6-foot-4 like these gentlemen. I’m actually 6 feet. I auditioned and I got the job … That show was seen by an agent, actually a director who was with an agency who put me in touch with the agency in Toronto. And they signed me. And I got lucky.”
Sutton Foster (Younger) owes her start to Grease.
“I lived at home with my parents. I waited tables — was sort of lost. Then I flew up to New York to visit my brother who was working on a Broadway show. And there were several open-calls up there and my mom encouraged me to audition,” she says.
“My brother and his girlfriend at the time helped me prepare. And I got cast in a national tour of Grease. And four days later was flown to San Francisco and at 19, I was traveling around the country in a national tour! I feel that life had helped me out there. I was in the ensemble. I’m a gypsy, an ensemble girl, who crawled her way to the top. I did Grease for a year and a half, and my Broadway debut was with Grease.”
Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) was too timid to try acting at first.
“I was taking drama classes, but I was still nervous and shy and my teacher said — I was a senior — she said, ‘Listen, you can’t take Drama 4 unless you audition for a play.’ I said, ‘OK, and auditioned for Grease. I got the part of Vince Fontaine,” he says.
“The next morning I was walking down the hallway and I remember this popular kid, Chris Prow, said, ‘Hey, you’re pretty funny.’ So for me, not being me, on stage I could be any weird, eccentric — anything I wanted to do on stage, I could do. I didn’t feel like I was being judged.”