So far I’ve only seen the clips of Grease Live which are available on Hulu and Fox because I forgot to DVR it. (I have the FoxNow app on XBox but they never update it by the morning.) As someone who has seen the original movie over 20 times, my initial impressions are that it’s a fun remake with fresh elements, choreography and content. The dancing was incredible, the singing was usually solid to great, and the talking scenes were a mixed bag. I should reserve judgment though until I see the whole thing as many people are raving about how great it was. There were some new songs I wasn’t familiar with, some of which came from the stage production but weren’t in the movie, and some which were written specifically for the show.
Outlets are praising the technical achievements of the show and saying that it brought live musical tv to new heights. So I guess we’ll see more of these live remakes of classic musicals as it’s become somewhat of a trend, for good or bad.
Castmember Vanessa Hudgens suffered a personal loss over the weekend. The night before she was set to perform, her father passed away from stage 4 cancer. She still showed up to work and sang and acted her heart out. Here’s what she wrote on Twitter:
I am so sad to say that last night my daddy, Greg passed away from stage 4 cancer. Thank you to everyone who kept him in your prayers.
— Vanessa Hudgens (@VanessaHudgens) January 31, 2016
Tonight, I do the show in his honor.
— Vanessa Hudgens (@VanessaHudgens) January 31, 2016
I can’t imagine losing a parent and then going to work the next day, not to mention a job where you have to perform live. Hudgens deserves a lot of credit for showing up, but she could have stayed home too, no one would have judged her for that. She’s just 27, which is really young to lose a parent. It makes her performance that much more impressive.
Sad news. Vanessa Hudgens' dad has died. https://t.co/3F7Ox5qglI pic.twitter.com/izmAyDg4WK
— E! Online UK (@EOnlineUK) January 31, 2016
Photo credit: WENN.com and Getty Images
Whoa. Respect. My heart goes out to her and her family. Don’t know how she did it.
I now have tremendous respect for Vanessa Hudgens. Say what you will about her, but at least she’s a professional. Vanessa, I’m so deeply sorry for your loss.
I hope the industry takes notice. That’s work ethic. I hope her good reviews and impressive strength of character are rewarded.
she’s very brave. and if she loves what she does, she really is performing in his honour which is just lovely.
Yes. I am guessing he might have wanted her to do just that.
He might actually have talked with her about it, since he knew he didn’t have long.
There’s no way they didn’t know he was in his final days, they would have had to have discussed it when she took the job in the first place a few months ago. They knew he had Stage 4 cancer.
@bridget I hope you are right! Sometimes things happen quickly. 2 weeks ago, my aunt / godmother was given 3-6 months to live after fighting a terminal illness for years, but passed away 3 days later. I am sure if her dad could have had any control, he wouldn’t have put her in this position. I just hope she was able to say goodbye.
How heartbreaking. Thoughts to her and her fam.
Am sorry to hear about her loss and it must have taken a lot to go ahead and perform even in his memory. He would have been very proud.
I wasn’t sure how this would go being live and with the movie being so much to live up to but I thought they did a great job with almost no glitches.
Vanessa was incredible, especially under the circumstances…her dad would be proud.
I agree. I tuned in out of curiosity, then sat down and watched the whole thing. I thought it was great! There were a few hiccups, but I truly enjoyed it. I knew about VH’s father before I watched, and was very impressed with her. She showed courage and professionalism.
I did the same…was prepared to switch channels and never did. I’m glad it’s getting mostly positive reviews.
I only caught about the last half hour. Did not like Danny Zuko. He looked too old.
You know I thought that as well. They are supposed to be playing high school kids. He’s a good singer and dancer, but just not a good “Danny” for me.
There were too many scenes where I cringed for me to praise this that highly…I guess I’ve just seen the original too many times and some of the script changes for certain dialogue really bothered me.
However, Vanessa did a PERFECT job as Rizzo! I actually thought she did the best job of capturing the original character. I didn’t know about her Dad which just makes the job she did all the more impressive.
Vanessa was amazing. Her focus and commitment were unbelievable after such a heartbreaking personal loss. The entire show was high-energy and entertaining. I was impressed!
I was pretty taken aback when I heard about this. Obviously the ‘live, one-off’ nature of the performance was also a factor in her decision to go on, as she probably didn’t want to let down the other cast members and crew who had been working tirelessly for several weeks. If this was a straight Broadway show, on the other hand, she might have called in for an understudy and taken compassionate leave. Still, what an incredible achievement to pull off such an amazing performance under the circumstances.
Nevertheless I hope she finds some time and space to grieve properly now the show is over and done with. It must have been very bittersweet to perform last night.
That’s the show biz work ethic writ large- the show must go on. She’s deserves a lot of credit- can’t imagine how hard that is to do. And totally agree- so hard to lose a parent at any age, but at 27? Poor girl.
I’m so sorry for her loss. Performing in his honour must have been a very powefull outlet to channel her loss.
Oh gosh, God bless her, that is so sad
I watched bits and pieces of this last night and was extremely impressed with her performance. I lost my dad at 22, didn’t go to work for two weeks and was still a basket case. She was probably on ‘autopilot’ when she performed. So much respect and so sorry for her loss!
I was 34 when my dad passed away and I too was just a wreck. No work for weeks and I just laid around intermittently crying and sleeping. She is a real professional.
I lost my dad really young too. Years later and I’m still mourning. The sadness never really goes away, creeps up on you at random moments.
I’m really taken back by her strength and courage. I can’t say I would have done the same.
Thats super professional and sad for her loss but she must have made her family proud to show such courage.
That’s incredible you perform the same night your father passes away. The show must go on, she earned my respect. Great way to honour him.
I lost my dad to cancer at 21 so I know how she feels. I don’t know how she did it last night I was a mess when it happened to me. She did great . I have a lot of respect for her. I didn’t watch the whole thing but I thought it was really good. My friend kept comparing it to the movie and I told her that the movie cut out a lot of songs and changed things around. This is the first live play/show that they’ve done that I didn’t cringe through. Hated the live version of sound of music.
it is amazing that she was able to come out and still do the show. Im sure because it was a one time thing, probably helped.
As for the show, it was the best live televised musical yet. I really liked all the sets, the choreography was really great, Aaron Tveit was awesome, Vanessa surprised me. I thought she really nailed Rizzo. Jordan Fisher was also a standout to me. And I liked the element of having a live audience there. Plus, it was just fun to watch. Good energy. My complaints – The sound mixing could have been a bit better. Sometimes the music itself would drown out their voices. Carly Rae was a good frenchie, but she just doesn’t have the voice for musical theater. Julianne was….ok. Not terrible, not great. Joe Jonas should not be in a musical (at least it was a non-speaking role – he was the “band”). Overall though I was impressed. Fox really blew NBC out of the water.
I agree with your assessment of the show in terms of who was strong and who was not. I think that Thomas Kail, the director, is going to get a lot of offers to take him away from the Hamilton musical, because the technical achievement was amazing. Going from indoor to outdoor scenes and the camerawork during the dance competition made this feel like a movie but done live.
I’ve taped it but caught about 20 minutes live. Good on Vanessa poor thing. She nailed it. Wasn’t a big fan of Danny Zuko either but I didn’t realize that Carly Rae jepson played Frenchie? I stopped watching during her solo. Thought she was an actress not a singer. Oops. Not good.
She did great last night as Rizzo, her father is proud of her, I’m sure. I enjoyed the show last night, great cast and great performances. I was impressed. I don’t know how the next made for tv musical that is coming up would top this.
That’s so sad, and really strong of her. I hope she gets the support she needs to grieve for as long as she needs.
She (and many of the cast) did a great job. It speaks to her character and her relationship with her dad that she went on with the performance. RIP Greg.
I watched last night and thought they all did an incredible job. I’ve never watched any of the other “live” shows that have aired but this one was really good. There were moments where you actually forgot it was live ! I feel for Vanessa and all I thought about was how hard it must have been to go on with the show. Losing a parent is very traumatic. I’ve been there.
Damn, I was crying almost before I finished reading the headline. I’m a musician myself, and so many of my favorite memories involve looking out at the audience and seeing my dad glowing with pride after I performed. I’m sure Vanessa has a lot of similar happy memories of her dad, and it breaks my heart to think that this was probably the first time that he was missing from her special moment. And she totally nailed that performance, too. It was the perfect way to honor her dad, who probably had to sacrifice a lot to help her become so successful.
Miranda: So true.
My heart goes out to her during such a difficult time. What a true professional.
I thought it was great! I loved how they tweaked it just a bit to modernize it. I love musicals and this was no exception. Vanessa was amazing considering I break into tears over sad commercials. A total professional. One bad note. I really didn’t like Kiki Palmer, something about her acting… it just didn’t mesh with me. She kept doing this voice…. I don’t know. I wanted more from her, ooh but Jan (Kether Donahue from You’re the Worst) stole the show! She was great when it was her moments!
I didn’t watch this, I’m outside the U.S. but very sad for her loss. It must have been hard but I can imagine she worked really hard to get to the performance stage and performing must have felt like a release, and her dad would have been proud. I can’t even imagine.
I thought she did a great job.
So hard to believe she was able to do all that after just losing her father. I lost my mother in December, right before Christmas. We went on with the holiday and all the traditional celebrating and fun because I have two young kids. I look back and think it was just a sad imitation of normal Christmas, but I hope Vanessa can look back and be proud; I think she did a wonderful job. I really enjoyed the show, although I haven’t watched any of the recent TV musicals to compare it to.
Does anyone know…DID she have a choice not to perform? Did this performance have understudies for the big stars, the way an actual theatre production would? Or would Fox just have postponed the show?
From what I understand, she was one of the standout performances, too. Very impressive.
I didn’t love Grease outside of Vanessa’s performance. Carlos was also a standout. The rest was disapoonting. Julianne didn’t project while singing so she ended up being drowned out by the music often. Aaron had no swagger or “cool” for Danny. Carly was forgettable. Technically the show was fantastic but the hands down best live musical done thus far is The Wiz by a mile.
Danny and Kenickie were underwhelming. I don’t think Vanessa was spunky enough as Rizzo but her version of ‘There are Worse Things I Could Do’ was excellent. Marty and Doody’s songs were the highlight of the night for me.
Her performance of “There are worse things I could do” was utterly breathtaking.
Seek it out online.
What I liked best about it was that not only did she put her stamp on it, she offered up a wonderful, beautiful homage to Stockard Channing’s performance without copying it totally.
She did some of the full throated inflections in the same way that made me feel so nostalgic!
What a gorgeous rendition of the song. It was completely worth sitting through the less great parts.
Terrible. Reminds me of when my cousin’s grand mother died in the foyer of the theatre he was about to perform in. He was told what happened and still performed. I don’t even know what you call that sort of resilience but I was very impressed by it.