I've got chills; they're multiplying, thanks to my recent discovery of "Grease Live," a live musical and sure-to-be hate-watch event Fox is putting on next year.
Some background: Desperate for ratings, NBC turned to putting on a live musical production of "The Sound of Music" two years ago. And even though trading out Julie Andrews for Carrie Underwood is a bit like subbing out Aaron Rodgers for Scott Tolzien, the live show scored ratings for the struggling network – so much so they did it again last December with "Peter Pan" starring poor, poor Allison Williams and Christopher Walken (or more like Sleep-Walken judging by that performance, amirite!? Tip your waitresses). But despite being the hate-watch event of the holiday season and arguably the most embarrassing thing to happen to the Williams family in the last 365 days, it still scored great ratings and Twitter buzz.
So, of course, the tradition continues on NBC on Thursday, Dec. 3 with "The Wiz," starring an admittedly impressive cast including Mary J. Blige, Common, Queen Latifah, Uzo Aduba, Amber Riley, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley and David Alan Grier. And now here's Fox, attempting to get on the bandwagon with "Grease Live," which released its first cast photos – featuring "Dancing with the Stars" ballroom expert and occasional actress/singer Julianne Hough as Sandy and Vanessa Hudgens of "High School Musical" as Rizzo – yesterday via People magazine.
EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK: Julianne Hough, Vanessa Hudgens and Aaron Tveit in #Grease: Live! https://t.co/YGDEBAKIyT pic.twitter.com/7aLRbWLqNW
— People magazine (@people) November 23, 2015
Can't wait for January? Here's a first look at #GreaseLive's Danny, Sandy, and Rizzo! https://t.co/T3rAOim6He pic.twitter.com/wxeweXn4St
— GREASE: LIVE (@GoGrease) November 23, 2015
Aaron Tveit of Broadway's "Catch Me If You Can" and "Next to Normal" fills out the rest of the starring cast – and gives it the hope and pretense of some legitimate Broadway cred. And to undermine all of that cced, Canadian "Call Me Maybe" siren Carly Rae Jepsen, Nick Jonas, Mario Lopez (obviously) and pop star Jessie J will all appear as well.
I have so many questions. Will it be terrible? Will it at least be as good as "Grease 2"? Will somebody mess up? Could Tveit possibly come close to Travolta's iconically swaggering take on the role? Can Hough measure up to Newton-John? Does Hudgens really think she can out-snarl Stockard Channing's Rizzo? Will Martin Short steal the show as Coach Calhoun? Well, that last one's an easy yes.
And most importantly: Will Fox keep the original, shockingly raunchy lyrics? It's just not "Grease" without the surprisingly dirty songs, allusions to rape and misogyny innocently hiding in plain sight.
I guess we'll all find out when it goes live on Jan. 31 on Fox.
As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.
When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.