Review: 'Grease: Live'

While film and live theater are very much director's mediums, television tends to see a director's job as less about being artistic and more about competently delivering the vision of the showrunner, studio and network. TV directors are prized for being efficient and consistent and maybe that's why most TV viewers would be hard-pressed to name a TV director other than Jim Burrows.

But that hasn't always been the case. In the early days of television - when live musical productions and stage adaptations were king - directors were an integral part of what viewers saw on their screens. Facing a lot of technical challenges and limited budgets, shows had to have a director capable of creatively thinking outside the box in order to get the best program on the air within the meager budget confines of the medium.

If there's a lesson to be (re)learned from GREASE: LIVE, it's that when it comes to a live television program, a talented and visionary director and production staff can elevate a program to an ambitious level. Live television is very much a directors' medium and that's very much been the case in all of the recent live musical productions on NBC and now FOX.

GREASE: LIVE is helmed by "Hamilton" director Thomas Kail and his expansive take on the story opened up the production and gave it a life beyond being merely a pastiche of familiar scenes from the movie and stage production. Jessie J's "Grease Is The Word" was a stunning transition through multiple sets and locations and it set the bar for what was to come. Kail and crew took full advantage of Fox's desire for this to be a true "live" production as the three-hour show utilized every inch of the studio lot as well as the live audience. The result is that while the music and actors are the supposed stars of the musical, what most viewers will remember is the look, passion and expansive vision of the production.

"Grease" has always weirdly been more about the supporting actors than the leads. The movie might be iconic, but it's not because of John Travolta's singing skills. Both Sandy and Danny are necessarily two-dimensional, serving as a way to hold the rest of the production together and remind viewers of the inherent blandness of the era. Sandy and Danny are more about chemistry than anything else. And while Aaron Tveit and Julianne Hough might not be in the league of Travolta and Olivia Newton-John when it comes to charisma, they generally were solid enough in the roles to not be distracting.

When it comes to performances, the night belonged to the smaller roles, from Keke Palmer's "Freddy My Love" to Vanessa Hudgen's bruised and vulnerable take on ""There Are Worse Things I Could Do." Other highlights included Joe Jonas's Johnny Casino and the impressive comedy talents of Kether Donahue.

As you might expect in a three-hour live show, not every scene was stellar. I'm not troubled by the fact that producers added an original song to the production. After all, several of the most-
beloved "Grease" tunes were added for the movie production. But saddling Carly Rae Jepson with the instantly forgettable "All I Need Is An Angel" didn't do her (or the production) any favors. And while the networks seem to be in love with Mario Lopez's trademark soulless TV persona, his brief appearances throughout the show only succeeded in reminding me of those weird TV commercials he does for Jublia's toe nail fungus medicine.

I'm also not troubled by the decision to not update some of the very 50s-ish attitudes about sex and potential date rape that are part of the original production. "Grease" is supposed to be a reflection of of its time and GREASE: LIVE stays true to that vision. We don't need to update every piece of art to reflect the current state of what we believe to be the "correct" emotional and political stance. Otherwise, we'll end up with productions that look as dated in twenty years as those "updated" productions produced during the height of the Vietnam-era counter-culture years.

In the end, GREASE: LIVE was precisely what it needed to be. A joyful, sometimes surprising ode to a beloved musical. In some ways "Grease" is the perfect property to receive this treatment and it's difficult to imagine NBC finding equal success later this year with their take on the solid, but lesser musical "Hairspray." But more than anything, GREASE: LIVE showed that broadcast television can still be a medium that connects a large group of viewers in the moment without any sports being part of the production. It was an impressive effort by the network, Thomas Kail and everyone else involved.

Viva la broadcast television.