In arbitrary honor of my 23rd birthday on Saturday, here are 23 thoughts I had while watching Grease: Live. Some of them are articulate and critical, most are not. But in the spirit of Grease, I decided to have fun with this.
- Oh thank god, it’s going to be corny.
- For some reason I expected Julianne Hough to have a fake Australian accent. I am incredibly relieved she does not.
- Finally: proof that Aaron Tveit can age. He actually reminds me a little of Matthew McConaughey in Dazed and Confused.
- I like live musicals. I like TV. I am not sure I like live TV musicals.
- This brings back painful memories of a seventh grade drama production of Grease.
- What if Ana Gasteyer played Principal McGee like the principal in 10 Things I Hate About You?
- Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo is iconic and she’s giving so much face, I love it.
- Jan is wonderful; she’s easily one of the favorites to watch.
- I have so little patience for fragile masculinity.
- I worried a lot about the structural integrity of the bleachers during Summer Nights.
- Was the entire cheerleading number necessary? I have my doubts.
- The car/racing/gang rivalry scenes are simply not as good as Discovery Channel’s show Street Outlaws.
- New Cheerleader Sandy Shows Remarkable Unprofessionalism And Leaves Her First Pep Rally To See A Boy.
- Ah, the smell of toxic masculinity in the air.
- Grease Lightning is by far the first number to actually garner any excitement in me; I think it’s all the dancing and most definitely the cars.
- This won’t mean anything to anyone, but if this were Discovery Channel’s Street Outlaws, then Danny would be Big Chief and Kenickie would be Shawn.
- The dancing and choreography is the strong point of this whole endeavor. The entire dance scene is so stunning and entertaining to watch and captures the spirit of the musical more than anything else I’ve seen so far.
- Danny: *gives Sandy his ring*
Sandy: This means so much to me because I know now that you respect me.
Danny: *looks into the camera like he’s on The Office* - Danny, she left because you’re a tool and forced unwanted sexual attention on her. Grow up.
- When Eugene pops up to help the T-Birds with their car, I had a great idea that he would fall in love with one of them and they’d live happily every after. Missed opportunity.
- Vanessa Hudgens killed “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” and officially rendered everyone else not worth watching.
- The last Street Outlaws thought of the night: I feel like I would have been more interested in the race if Thunder Road were on the streets of Oklahoma City.
- Overall: the only live TV musical I have ever watched. Not sure if I will again, but this was not a bad experience.
—Mariana Zavala
moviefiednyc.com 