![]() Later, Wendell tells his mother he does not want to work in the cotton mill and plans to use his muster pay to buy a taxicab, eventually open a garage, and be his own boss. His family welcomes him home with a party and he takes an immediate liking to a guest, Mary Jones. Fifteen years later, Wendell returns to Danville after serving in the Army during World War II. In 1930s Danville, Virginia, an African-American boy named Wendell Scott impresses a group of white boys with his bike-riding powers. The film is based loosely on the true life story of Wendell Scott, the first Black NASCAR race winner and later a 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee. They’re supposed to exhibit, to quote Frankie Valli, “the time, the place, and the motion.” But, at least for me, Grease: Live didn’t have the groove and it didn’t have the meaning.Greased Lightning is a 1977 American biographical film starring Richard Pryor, Beau Bridges, and Pam Grier, and directed by Michael Schultz. Renditions of Grease are supposed to revive a sensibility. Every line felt like it was spewed from a 1950s dialectic robot with a jammed on/off switch. Full of “live television” gimmicks and unnecessary celebrity cameos (except for the original Frenchie as the waitress at the diner), Grease: Live was a plastic, lifeless imitation of an American classic. I wasn’t watching Danny Zuko strut around “Greased Lightning.” I was watching some guy do his best Danny Zuko impersonation.Īnd that’s exactly what happened with Grease: Live. The actors in both stage productions didn’t break past the point of being actors. I’ve seen stage productions of it twice and both times nothing felt engrossing or fleshed out with the same tone and authenticity as the movie is. The other thing I forgot was I don’t like renditions of Grease. It’s never as satisfying as I remember it, which is sad, but it’s true. I don’t put it on very often because seeing it more than ten times is realistically a large enough fill of Grease for a lifetime, but when I haven’t seen it for awhile and I think about watching it, I embellish to myself how much I actually like watching it. I’ve seen Grease with John Travolta upwards of 10 times. The worst part was, I should have seen it coming. ![]() At that point, I realized my fatal mistake. Nevertheless, last Sunday came and, as the day went on, my hopes for Grease: Live actually got pretty high. I didn’t know any of the cast members for Grease: Live except for Vanessa Hudgens, and I was pretty indifferent toward her, too. Maybe it was the fact that I actually enjoy Grease, whereas I’m pretty indifferent toward The Sound of Music and a musical Peter Pan. With these two examples in mind, I was shocked to find myself intrigued by FOX’s Grease: Live. And don’t get me wrong, I love Christopher Walken, but try watching an excerpt from Peter Pan Live! without curling over in tears, laughing at the monstrosity of a performance that unfolds before you. Apparently making the jump from singing in Hairspray to prancing about as Captain Hook was a bit too much for the beloved actor. When Peter Pan Live! came around next, I thought my ears would start bleeding at the sound of Christopher Walken’s pirate shanties. It seemed like everyone was uncomfortable trying to make the production as great as they wanted it to be, which came off as overdone and inauthentic. ![]() It’s not that Carrie Underwood didn’t sing well or that the sets and props were atrocious. To quote Brian Lowry’s Variety review of Carrie Underwood’s The Sound of Music Live!, “the actual production too often felt as lifeless as alpine backdrops.” Some might find this a bit over-dramatic, but honestly, I fully agree with Mr. I say, “actually,” because I’ve been skeptical of and disappointed by the string of live musicals that NBC has broadcasted over the last couple of years. So when I received this press package from FOX, I actually got kind of excited. “Grease is the way we are feelin‘.” That’s all that needs to be said on the song and, really, the movie’s account. “Grease” exudes rock-solid coolness and suavity. ![]() No show tune could possibly match Frankie Valli’s “Grease” theme. I can’t thoroughly argue that Grease is the technically best musical out there, but for me, it’s funky, it’s funny, and I grew up watching it. Now, I know, that’s a bold and arguable claim. Plus, it emblematizes my love for what I consider to be the best of the best when it comes to American musicals. It’s sleek and it’s pink and pink’s my favorite color. I ate all the popcorn and cotton candy and gave away a couple of flags and t-shirts, but the Pink Ladies pin is mine. FOX sent it to me about two weeks ago, along with a press package/treasure chest of other Grease goodies, as a reminder of its Grease: Live musical it aired last Sunday. If you ever notice a guy walking around campus every day with a Pink Ladies pin on, that’s me.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |