One of Grease Live’s Associate Directors posted a brief video showing her calling the show shots. People often think about how hard the actors/dancers/singers had to work in front of the camera, and forget that there’s a whole other world behind the camera, who have just as much rehearsal and choreography.
I was impressed by what Grease Live managed to accomplish, even though there were several things that made me cringe, as a big fan of the 1978 movie. Just lots of beats and reactions that I’m so used to that didn’t happen in the live version.
I know, you can’t reproduce that moment in film when you’re doing a live TV show, but so much of what was done in the live show seems like it was meant to be a remake of the movie that when something didn’t hit the expected beats, it stood out even more.
But I did enjoy the live show; it was both technically and creatively interesting, and probably the best of the live musicals that have been popping up over the last few years.