Grease Live vs Actual Show?

So far I've only watched the first 30 minutes of Grease Live (with my daughter...and PVRd the rest)...but obviously this is not a regular stage show performed in a regular Broadway theatre. Meaning....the set is a full school and too "deep" to be just a stage. So how is this live and how does it compare to the actual Broadway show of Grease? Is this just like a live taping of a movie? Is it the same script?

Updated On: 1/31/16 at 08:19 PM

It was really an adaptation of the movie and had little to do with the Broadway musical.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I was assuming it was going to be filmed similar to The Wiz and Sound of Music where they filmed the stage production...not just a filming using the Broadway stars. Still neat, but not as neat if it was the actual live musical.

Of all the Grease Live threads trending right now, this is the best one. IMHO

I did Grease for almost four months in dinner theatre. It's how I earned my equity card.

The show we ended up with was a mish-mash of a few different scripts from various productions (namely the OBC and 93/94 revival and the movie.) It was honestly a mess, but a total crowd pleaser.

I always wondered about the legality of what our director did by creating this hybrid. There's been so many revisions over the years.

Basically when you do Grease, people want to see the "movie" onstage but the original show has some differences.

For selfish, nerdy musical theatre reasons, I'd love to see a word-for-word staging of the original script just to see how it would operate.

This is the original poster for the 1971 production of "Grease" at Chicago's Kingston Mines Theater. I've read that this production was close to 3 hours long. Marilu Henner was in the cast. She originated the role of "Marty".

I would love to get my hands on the script.

Didn't a theatre company in Chicago do the original-orignal version full of language and dirtier bits just a year or so ago to great acclaim? I wish that could be done more.

There's a bootleg of that Chicago production in circulation, it's really fascinating to hear the much more casual profanity littered throughout and songs cut out before Broadway. (However I don't think anyone would miss any of them)

BrodyFosse123, it's interesting to see the relationships and bonds that were formed by the performers who did GREASE. Jeff Conaway was also in the Broadway production understudying all the male parts and eventually playing "Danny" - - - around this time he was in a relationship with the show's original "Sandy", Carole Demas. They were also good friends with Travolta and Henner and just a year after the release of the film version Henner and Conaway would co-star on "Taxi" together.

I believe Henner was Travolta's date for the UK premiere of the film.

Oh and Jeff Conaway was married to Olivia Newton-John's sister Rona for 5 years.

Updated On: 2/1/16 at 03:43 PM

Did anybody hear anything about somebody in Chicago recently doing the original original Grease and supplying a link? Just wondering.

Thanks for finally bringing it up!