Grease Reality Show Earns Promising Ratings for NBC

"You're the One That I Want," the new reality show search for stars of Broadway's next Grease revival, earned promising ratings last night. 

The show, co-hosted by Billy Bush and Denise Van Outen, premiered on NBC on 8 PM.  The first and second installments of the show, which airs on Sunday nights, are an hour and a half-long; the remaining episodes will be hour-long.

During the 8 PM hour, "You're the One That I Want" earned a 6.9 rating/10 share.  It finished in third place, after ABC (with 11.7/17 for "Desperate Housewives") and CBS (with 9.0/13 for "Cold Case"), according to Zap2It.com.

The Zap2it ratings are "taken from fast national data. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change, especially in the case of live telecasts." A single rating point is equal to roughly one million households, while a share represents the percentage of televisions being used at the time.

The new production of Grease will open on Broadway in June 2007 and will be directed and choreographed by two-time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall/> (The Pajama Game).  Paul Nicholas and David Ian Associates, Nederlander Presentations and Phoenix Productions will produce.  Jim Jacobs, the co-creator of Grease, along with Marshall and renowned theatre producer David Ian, are judges on "You're the One That We Want."  The show will also feature an array of guest stars; Grease film star Olivia Newton-John appeared last night.

Grease, by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, "is the all-American musical, based on the sub-cultures of high school life in the 1950's.  The show takes place at the hyperactive Rydell High School, where Danny Zuko fronts his gang - the raucous T-Birds - who romance their sassy female equivalents - the Pink Ladies.  When 'good-girl' Sandy Dumbrowski arrives in town, the Pink Ladies  take her under their collective wing," as the show is described in press notes.

Grease originated in Chicago and made its premiere at The Kingston Mines Theater in 1971 before making its New York premiere off-Broadway at the Eden Theatre on February 14, 1972.  After 128 performances and much popularity,  the show made the transition to Broadway taking up residence at the Broadhurst Theatre on June 7, 1972.  Grease was nominated for seven Tony Awards in its initial run. 

On November 21, 1972, the show moved to the Royale Theatre.  It closed on Broadway after playing 3,388 performances, closing as the longest running show in Broadway history.  In 1978, Grease became a hugely popular feature film starring />/>/>/>/>/>John Travolta/> and />/>/>/>/>/>Olivia Newton-John/> in the lead roles.   A Broadway revival opened on May 11, 1994 at the Eugene O'Neil Theatre where it played 1,503 performances and won three Tony Award nominations.  A London revival opened on July 15, 1993 at  the Dominion Theatre and ran for 6 years on London's West End and is still touring today.

The new Broadway production will feature the smash Jacobs/Casey songs made famous by the the original play, including "Summer Nights," "Greased  Lightning" and "We Go Together."

"You're the One That We Want" is produced by BBC Worldwide Productions. The BBC's Paul Telegdy, Emmy nominated Conrad Green ("Dancing with the Stars") and David Ian are the Executive Producers.

Tickets for Grease are now on sale.  Group Sales are available now by calling Nederlander Group Sales at 212-840-3890.

Visit www.nbc.com/grease for more information.

Photo - "You're the One That I Want" judges David Ian, />Kathleen Marshall/> and Jim Jacobs; photo courtesy of www.nbc.com/grease