Post by Glencairn on Feb 1, 2016 2:04:31 GMT -6
I don't know if anyone else watched the production of Grease: Live tonight, but we watched it at my house and really enjoyed it. There have been some other live musicals done for television and they have not been so fantastic, so there was some trepidation about this one, but my fears were quickly put to rest. I am a huge fan of musicals and musical theater and have performed in a number of musicals over the years (though none anytime recently, unfortunately) and I am always thrilled when I get to see a show. When some of the TV stations started putting on musicals, I loved the idea.
I didn't watch the most recent one, which was a production of The Wiz, but I watched and enjoyed the version of The Sound of Music that was a year or two ago and I watched and sort of enjoyed the production of Peter Pan that was maybe one year ago-ish. The Sound of Music could have had a stronger cast for the vocalists, but a number of that cast did have musical theater experience and it showed. I've seen stronger productions of that one (and was in the cast of that show once many years ago in a community theater production), but it was still really enjoyable. The Peter Pan one that was done for television seemed like it was done more for the names in it and focused less on the talent and whether their main cast were strong vocalists or not. It wasn't horrible certainly, but it's another one that I've seen better performances of before.
Tonight's production of Grease (which is a favorite of mine) had a handful of musical theater names that I was familiar with - and so already fairly reassured that the vocals and talent would be pretty great - and even had small roles by Didi Conn who played Frenchy in the famous movie version and Eve Plumb known for her role as Jan Brady in the character of the shop teacher. Julianne Hough played Sandy and I had heard her name before, but wasn't at all familiar with any of her work, but she did a really solid job and was a fantastic Sandy. My favorite was Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko. I've been familiar with (and a huge fan of) Aaron for a while as a musical theater performer and he was as wonderful as I expected he would be. He is a phenomenal vocalist and has the talent to carry a show. My other favorite was Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo. This is another one who I had heard of, but wasn't familiar with. She nailed the character. I was very pleasantly surprised! The rest of the cast was also better than hoped for. A lot of theater talent and vocalists. Some of the names I was familiar with and some I didn't know, but I am so glad that our family watched this tonight. If they make a DVD for sale, it is one that I will be getting just to watch whenever I need some musical theater therapy.
I would love to hear what anyone else who watched it thought of the show and what you would suggest for a future production. My wish list would be topped by a production of Wicked and also include Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Chess, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Spamalot, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story...really, I could keep them in production for years with all of the shows that I would love to see done.
Take care,
Cindi
I didn't watch the most recent one, which was a production of The Wiz, but I watched and enjoyed the version of The Sound of Music that was a year or two ago and I watched and sort of enjoyed the production of Peter Pan that was maybe one year ago-ish. The Sound of Music could have had a stronger cast for the vocalists, but a number of that cast did have musical theater experience and it showed. I've seen stronger productions of that one (and was in the cast of that show once many years ago in a community theater production), but it was still really enjoyable. The Peter Pan one that was done for television seemed like it was done more for the names in it and focused less on the talent and whether their main cast were strong vocalists or not. It wasn't horrible certainly, but it's another one that I've seen better performances of before.
Tonight's production of Grease (which is a favorite of mine) had a handful of musical theater names that I was familiar with - and so already fairly reassured that the vocals and talent would be pretty great - and even had small roles by Didi Conn who played Frenchy in the famous movie version and Eve Plumb known for her role as Jan Brady in the character of the shop teacher. Julianne Hough played Sandy and I had heard her name before, but wasn't at all familiar with any of her work, but she did a really solid job and was a fantastic Sandy. My favorite was Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko. I've been familiar with (and a huge fan of) Aaron for a while as a musical theater performer and he was as wonderful as I expected he would be. He is a phenomenal vocalist and has the talent to carry a show. My other favorite was Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo. This is another one who I had heard of, but wasn't familiar with. She nailed the character. I was very pleasantly surprised! The rest of the cast was also better than hoped for. A lot of theater talent and vocalists. Some of the names I was familiar with and some I didn't know, but I am so glad that our family watched this tonight. If they make a DVD for sale, it is one that I will be getting just to watch whenever I need some musical theater therapy.
I would love to hear what anyone else who watched it thought of the show and what you would suggest for a future production. My wish list would be topped by a production of Wicked and also include Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Chess, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Spamalot, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story...really, I could keep them in production for years with all of the shows that I would love to see done.
Take care,
Cindi