Review Roundup: Tell Me More - Critics Weigh In on GREASE: LIVE!

GREASE: LIVE aired last night Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016 on FOX and BWW has the reviews hot off the presses. See what the critics have to say below:

Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times: But despite the presence of a live audience for parts of it, the experience for viewers wasn't remotely theater. Good theater is spine-tingling; "Grease: Live!" was spectacle... Mr. Kail's production certainly raised the bar in terms of how much razzle-dazzle, innovation and star power these extravaganzas will need to have. If there were thoughts back in 2013 when NBC began this trend with "The Sound of Music Live!" that the point was merely to bring beloved stage music to a national audience, they're gone now. This "Grease" was in a sense a new art form: not theater; more like "Grease" the movie, but performed live.

Maureen Ryan, Variety: "Grease Live!" won't make anyone forget the original film any time soon, but that wasn't the point. The idea was to cook up a must-see event that got attention on social media and delivered a crisply executed and energetic final product. Thanks to exceptional work from director Thomas Kail and several sterling supporting performances, much of "Grease Live!" was as sweet and tasty as root beer float.

Caroline Siede, AV Club: An odd mix of revolutionary presentation and too-familiar staging, Grease: Livewas a confident, competent three hours of musical theater. As more and more networks attempt their own live musicals it will be interesting to see which lessons they learn from this one: To push the envelope or to play it safe. Wop ba-ba lu-mop and wop bam boom!

Jeremy Gerard, Deadline: Did I say revolutionary? The co-directors were Alex Rudzinski andThomas Kail, the staging genius of Broadway's Founding Father juggernautHamilton; and the sets were byHamilton's David Korins. The camera work flowed effortlessly from the musical on stages to shots from backstage of actors racing to be ferried from one sound stage to another, or just hanging out in rare moments when the tension let up.

Zach Seemayer, ET: Every cast member was spot on. Julianne Hough and Aaron Tveit were great as Sandy and Danny -- although no one really doubted their potential -- butthe whole ensemble pulled together to be flawless. Even Vanessa Hudgens,whose father died hours before the show aired -- delivered an amazing performance as Rizzo, and dedicated the production to her father's memory. In a night of killer '50s costumes, jaw-dropping dance numbers and dazzling demonstrations of raw talent, Grease: Live had a big shadow to dance its way out from under (namely, the beloved John Travolta/Olivia Newton John original), and it came through with flying colors.

Matt Tamanini, BroadwayWorld: GREASE: LIVE took a concept that has been a bit of a novelty for the past three years and proved that it can be so much more. They proved that it can be as slick as a film, as urgent as a TV Show, and as creative as a Broadway musical. GREASE: LIVE is what all live TV musicals must now aspire to be.

Darren Franich, Entertainment Weekly: Grease: Live defied modesty, transcended nostalgia, served up cheese

as a ten-course gourmet meal. Coming so soon after the triumph of The Wiz Live!, it banished once and for all any easy notions of hatewatching and trainwreckitude... In this moment overrun with must-see TV events, Grease wasn't just live. It was alive.

Saba Hamedy, Mashable: Also at times, the roughly 650 audience members seemed out of place. Their presence certainly helped liven up bigger scenes. But sometimes the audience in the background made it easier for the eye to wander away from the scene at hand. Still, shaky moments aside, Grease Live combined the magic of the live musical and the movie while still making it feel fresh for TV viewers. Fox also managed to raise the bar for future live televised musicals, including its own upcoming scheduled religious musical The Passion.

Brandon Griggs, CNN: On the down side, audio glitches interrupted Julianne Hough's big solo number, "Hopelessly Devoted to You," which was marred by static. And a Southern California downpour forced cast members to carry umbrellas during some outdoor scenes, filmed on a Warner Brothers backlot. Still, the ambitious three-hour production will almost certainly score high ratings for Fox and encourage networks to develop more musicals for live television.

Michael Slezak, TVLine: So please, don't call it blasphemy that - at least for tonight - John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John are as far from my brain (and my heart) as Bernie Sanders is from a Rick Santorum endorsement. To put it another way, Aaron Tveit's Danny Zuko, Julianne Hough's Sandy and (perhaps most of all) Vanessa Hudgens' Rizzo made Fox's three-hour production faster, funnier, sweeter and more instantly iconic than it was possible to imagine.

Megan Vick, TV Guide: Hats must be tipped to master director Tommy Kail, whose vision for Grease: Live! upped the standard for all live TV musicals from here on out. The show successfully managed to combine all the nostalgic elements of Grease that everyone expected while creating a new experience. The set changes and scale of what they were able to accomplish -- in a rainstorm no less -- were incredibly impressive.Grease is the word, and ratings most likely will be too. This wasn't a show -- it was a spectacle and the applause was very much deserved.

Amber Dowling, The Wrap: As far as overall theatrical-to-TV events go though, "Grease Live" was a big old win in every possible column. The production managed to capture the overall cheesy tone present in the original while moving through the many numbers with lightening speed. The three hours flew by quicker than expected at the outset thanks to giggle-worthy moments and fun numbers, with things really picking up in terms of overall entertainment and production value at the two-hour mark.

GREASE: LIVE reintroduced and reimagined some of the show's most memorable moments, great music and timeless love story to an entirely new generation. In this live television adaptation of the musical classic, the beginning of senior year means the end of Danny and Sandy's summer romance - until Sandy unexpectedly transfers to Danny's high school. With their friends pulling them in different directions, it's up to Danny and Sandy to stay hopelessly devoted as they make their way from Rydell High to a new frontier.

The live event starred Julianne Hough ("Safe Haven," "Rock of Ages") as the angelic "Sandy" - Rydell High's most talked-about newcomer - and Aaron Tveit ("Graceland," "Les Miserables") as bad boy "Danny Zuko." Also tapped to star are Vanessa Hudgens (Broadway's "Gigi," "Spring Breakers") as iconic bad girl "Rizzo"; Keke Palmer (SCREAM QUEENS, "Masters of Sex") as sassy Pink Lady "Marty Maraschino"; Carlos PenaVega ("Big Time Rush") as "Kenickie," Danny's tough-guy sidekick; multi-Platinum Grammy® Award-nominated singer and songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen as Pink Lady and beauty school dropout "Frenchy"; Kether Donohue ("You're The Worst") as Pink Lady "Jan"; David Del Rio ("Spare Parts," "The Troop") as T-Bird "Putzie; Jordan Fisher as "Doody"; and Andrew Call as "Sonny."

Photo credit: Kevin Estrada/FOX

To post a comment, you must register and login.