Grease Live vs Actual Show?

[mmFan]

Posted: 1/31/16 at 8:19pm

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

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 1/31/16 at 10:39pm

The adaptation is actually closer the to film script with some stuff added in from the Broadway show.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 5:57am

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

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 7:33am

The film was based on the Broadway musical and this broadcast was based on the film AND the Broadway musical and without the Broadway musical there would have been no film or this live broadcast so when you get right down to it, it really had EVERYTHING to do with the Broadway musical.

Updated On: 2/1/16 at 07:33 AM

[mmFan]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 7:38am

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.

[haterobics]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 8:50am

mmFan said: "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."

 

It was like those productions, though, since it was a live musical done one-time for television. There are already theater productions, such as Paper Mill Playhouse, that have already done hybrid versions before where new additions from the movie replaced or augmented the original stage version. Plus, they also said that was what they were doing all along...

[BobbyBubbi]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 2:04pm

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.  

 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 2:09pm

Do you mean the original original script or the original Broadway script?  Because they did recently do the original original script in Chicago, where it all began.

 

http://www.theatreinchicago.com/the-original-grease/4582/

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 2:20pm

 

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.

[BobbyBubbi]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 2:47pm

I forgot about this Theatre Nerd! Yes the original original. 

Just a knit picky thing but every time Grease is done it always sounds like they are Linda Richman in Long Island. Grease live was no exception. 

These are supposed to be rough and tumble kids from Chicago. It's a tad different dialect.  

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 2:57pm

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.

[DigificWriter]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 3:01pm

I liked that Grease Live! created a hybrid of the film and the stage production script-wise because its Cast Recording gives us five different recorded versions of the show and score.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 3:01pm

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]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 3:26pm

Marilu Henner began her career in Chicago which is how she was involved with creating the role of Marty in the original 1971 production of GREASE prior to its NY debut.  She has said that though she was offered the role when it was going to be done Off-Broadway, she declined.  She thought the show was too Chicago specific and would never succeed in NY unaware of the changes that were eventually done to the show for NY.  A decision she regretted as the actress cast, Katie Hanley, would originate the role both Off-Broadway and Broadway.  

 

Marilu Henner was offered the role of Marty in the 1st National Tour which is where she met the teenaged Johnny Travolta who was playing Doody in that tour.  She eventually did end up being a replacement Marty in the Broadway production.  

 

A few years later (1974) Travolta and Henner would both make their Broadway debuts in the original Broadway production of the 40s/Andrew Sisters led musical OVER HERE!  Here she met dancer Ann Reinking, who would decades later seek Henner out to replace her in the Broadway revival of CHICAGO.  

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 3:43pm

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

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 4:17pm

I was Teen Angel in a production many moons ago. As much as I loved the production last night, I missed Raining on Prom Night and Party Queen (as performed in the stage version).

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 4:19pm

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

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 4:24pm

No. But if you're interested here it is: The Original Original Grease.

 

 

 

Updated On: 2/1/16 at 04:24 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 4:29pm

Thanks for finally bringing it up!

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 4:51pm

You're welcome my love....