They need to make a new movie version that's very close to the ORIGNAL 1971 play. That would mean, reinstating all the numbers that didn't make the movie version and NOT including the songs written for the movie i.e., Hopelessly Devoted To you, Sandy, You're The One That I Want, and the Title Song. Remember I'm Talking about the original play not the various revivals that incorporate elements of the movie. That's the kind of movie adaptation we need.
I'm not sure what audiences would make of an R-rated movie musical. At least here in the U.S. You'd probably get parents complaining about it being unsuitable for their kids.
Agreed. Of course, there will be loads of complaints on social media about "remakes" with commenters not understanding that it wouldn't be a remake of the movie, but a closer adaptation of the original play. Perhaps, to lead up to it, a streamed series about Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey and their struggles bringing the play itself from the Kingston Mines, to the Eden Theater, to ultimately Broadway itself, and then the movie. Reading about that, there was a lot of interesting drama that would make for a fascinating show (apparently Jim Jacobs almost got into a fist fight with Broadway producer Ken Waissman!), and that could prime mainstream audiences for a theatrical film adaptation of the 1971 play.
I don’t think anyone would like. Everyone would immediately compare it to John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. And they’d all complain “You’re The One That I Want wasn’t in it.”
@@ECKohns The original song in the play was All Choked Up. Also "Sandy" wasn't in the original play. A Song called Alone At A Drive In Movie was sung by Danny instead.
Everything you said was so true. They absolutely did rizzo wrong. I just wish grease would go back to it's original roots and not embody some ice cream sundae aesthetic musical.
That would be nice. Paramount has multiple Grease-related projects in the works right now, and it'll be interesting to see what route they take. I'm... not optimistic.
@@ShawnBRyanVideos Sadly, I don't think we'll ever see the original Broadway version of Grease again -- except perhaps (if we're lucky) in an occasional stage revival. I think future generations and incarnations will always be slaves to the blockbuster movie version. Too bad.
@ShawnBRyanVideos I got this in my suggestions after looking up info on the new show...which I did watch last night. For my money, it could've been a whole lot worse. The leads are all fun and the one direct reference to two of the characters from the original story were used to good effect. While the series does take it's visual cues from the film, it definitely feels more in the spirit of the original play in terms of providing critique of the time period it was in as well as the one it was made in.
As a Chicagoan, I wish there would be another tour or regional run of the original '71 Chicago story. Just experiencing the version with the gritty interactions and commentary of teens from blue collar/working-class families living life in the Northwest Side would have been great.
There is one important aspect of the 1971 Kingston Mines show that survived into the off-Broadway and Broadway versions, but was significantly played down (to the point of practical non-existence) for the 1978 movie, and I'm not talking about the sexual situations, which admittedly, was a huge part of the show. The T-Birds of the movie (The Burger Palace Boys of the stage play) are supposed to be a fighting youth gang. After the dance, they wait around for their rivals, and Sonny enters with a zip gun, ready to shoot their rivals. Their rivals (The Flaming Dukes of the stage versions, The Scorpions of the movie) don't show, so the boys almost turn their weapons on each other. The whole reason for this violent absurdity? Danny and Kenickie danced with Cha-Cha, the girlfriend of the rival gang leader, and he took their dancing with "his" girl as a sign of disrespect. (Curiously, they danced with her because of the contest, but they talk about her behind her back because, in the play, unlike the movie, she is obese, and their insults behind her back are less than "sensitive" or "understanding," as they refer to her as "Godzilla" and "a bughouse." Being gang members, they weren't exactly nice.) Considering that there were real-life 50s-era gang shootings over possession of girls, at dances, between rival gangs, the most notorious having occurred in 1959 (the year that Grease supposedly takes place), a prime example being the shooting death of 15-year-old Theresa Gee committed by 17-year-old John Cruz during the Sportsmen/Forsyth Street Boys gang war in Manhattan's Lower East Side in August of 1959...the play version was touching on the reality of 1950s gang life. (Apparently, Jim Jacobs did run with a Chicago gang when he attended Taft High in the late 1950s.) The 1978 movie may have kept the sexual double standards of the 1950s, but (in the name of "feel good nostalgia") made these gang kids a little less vicious than they were in the live play versions. In fact, like most 1970s-made 50s nostalgic movies, the movie version of Grease makes them goofy, (while equating street gangs with car clubs, having said street gang members enthusiastically participate in a Dick Clark-like Bandstand TV dance show, and oddly, making them unfamiliar with sports), all of which (for those who know about the reality of 1950s youth gang history) is every bit as rooted in fantasy as that flying car that carries Danny and Sandy off into the clouds at the end of the movie. In that sense, the movie version makes 1950s youth gangs...kid friendly.
The movie does make a short reference to the fact that the T-Birds do fight, When the Scorpions first show up, one of the boys complain that they are in "their" territory, wonders if they are looking for a rumble, and takes out a switchblade.
@@rosabellaalvarez-calderon4586 yes, it is done a bit more lighthearted in the movie than in the stage play. Doody doesn't carry a water pistol to threaten their rivals (The Scorpions of the movie, The Flaming Dukes of the stage plays), but rather, a broken car aerial antenna, which real life gang members of the 1950s often used to slice up the faces of their rivals. (Some members of The Corsair Lords and Mau Mau Chaplains apparently used them, in addition to the knives, garrison belts, and pistols in their rumbles, such as the notorious April 1958 Coney Island rumble that degenerated into a riot along the New York subways.) Jim Jacobs had ran with a Chicago teen gang at Taft High, so I can see why he wasn't happy with the more goofball portrayals that Carr, Stigwood, Woodward, and Kleiser initiated for the film, though, being released at the height of the Fifties Nostalgia Fad, I also get why the filmmakers went with that route.
@@Mike_The_1950s_Historian That water-pistol was so goofy, that in my memories, by association, Kenickie's switchblade was turned into comb. I had to check, and indeed, it was a switchblade, my mind was just playing tricks on me :)
I'm a fan of the movie version, but after seeing this video and another one where I learned what the original concept of the stage play was, I would really like to see the original version. I'm sure this will probably never happen as people would complain "it's not like the movie". I didn't watch the version that was on NBC a few years back, and I'm glad I didn't. Rizzo being jealous of Sandy is absolutely bananas. There is no world where she would be. I heard that John Travolta wouldn't do the movie unless he got to sing Greased Lightning. I didn't even know it was originally Kenicke's song till years later.
I'd wager it is VERY unlikely you'd find anyone putting on the original original...the stage versions have incorporated the movie songs, and I believe that's the only one that can be licensed. I could be wrong, but I don't think so :/
My 18-25 theatre group did a production of the original Grease stage show, and the director really helped us too connect with the nitty gritty of all the characters and connect them to the realistic parts of our own lives. This criticism is so valid. I always love your videos, you have such a cohesive train of thought on all your points.
I’m in a lot of these photos and vids: played Pink Lady Jan in National Tour & on Broadway in ‘74-‘76. I was a child in the 50s, but I was afraid of, and thrilled by, the teenage hoods at my Catholic school. I loved the music. Those songs were played as people entered the theater every nights- “ Earth Angel.” Etc. I felt like a teenager every night though I was mid-twenties. When I saw the movie, I enjoyed it but all that 50s feeling was gone, as said in this video. I was sad that my favorite number,” Freddy My love” was gone- seeing Katy Hanley do that at the Eden Theater was what made me long to be on that musical- and a few years later I was. My daughter loved the movie. Thanks for this wonderful critique!
Glad this shines a light on the characters discussing the influence of the 1950s actress Sandra Dee. SOOO many people seem to think ‘Sandra Dee’ IS Sandy’s same.
I think the "liking the modern grease" thing is kinda like why things like Kidz Bop exist: To please a certain audience that might not be the ones who you might expect. Most places i've seen made grease plays weren't doing it about the story, they were doing because of the "cutesy 50s dresses and dancy songs" i've heard a couple of times and to please parents in the presentation night that are forced to go. Grease was transformed from a edgy accurate enough satirization of the 50s for adults that experienced the 50s first hand to basically a Kidz Bop version of the original grease: a kid-friendly play that relies on the fake nostalgia for the 50s from people that weren't even born around the original play to say "yeah, that's totally how the 50s were"
I was a tween when the movie came out, and I knew nothing of the play (except that there had been one) so the movie was for a long time the only Grease I knew. I saw it first run in theaters, asked for and got the soundtrack for Christmas, and spun off elements into imaginative play with my best friend. We were both 50s-crazed for a while there. I had and wore saddle shoes. As the child of older parents (mid-forties when I came along) and a history geek, it's not lost on me how different the fifties I fell for in the Grease movie were from the fifties my parents lived through (though even they were adults at the time.) I would love to see either a stage production (preferable) of the original play, as intended, or a *faithful* film adaptation of the original. As eighties kids will understand, "totally different head. Totally."
As the fourth Rizzo in the Broadway production, I totally agree with you. I recently went to see a production in a nearby town that missed all of the details of what was important to me in that show. I guess the new version has songs from the movies. But I have to say, I missed the 50s…
I have always loved "Grease". When the movie first came out, I was 12, but I instantly fell in love with it. Learning that it was based on a stage play, I immediately had to research this and explored the script, score and original cast album of the original stage version which fascinated me in its changes (much the same as I had done with "The Sound of Music", to be honest). The origins of the musical with its crass language and more straightforward nostalgic story and ensemble cast of characters really intrigued me. I was even lucky enough to catch a live performance of the original show at one of its final bus-and-truck touring performances which verified everything I had wondered about. The movie was tons of fun and I have always enjoyed it, but I REALLY wish that when the musical is revived that they would return to its origins and present the show as it was originally done on Broadway. I kind of resent revivals of the show which deviate from the original source material and make the show into an homage to the movie. (Really, if you just want to see the movie, then just stay home and watch the movie!) I directed a professional production of the show in the late 1980s and insisted that everything stick to the original script, score and concept (like glue!). It was a real (and I think pleasant) eye-opener for all who saw and participated -- grit and all! I would do it again in a hearbeat.
Wow, the production you directed must have been something to see! I wonder if you'd be able to stage a production like that today, or if the rights holders are more protective of the material now. From what I hear, the new West End production is an interesting amalgam of both the 1978 film and the original production. You've movie-exclusive songs like "Grease is the Word" alongside long-lost stuff like "The Tattoo Song." And they've kept some of the harder-edged elements while acknowledging, "Yeah, we know that this is problematic. That's kind of the point..." I've got no clue if it's any good, but it certainly seems like an interesting move.
Seeing the original Grease theatrical production was my first Broadway experience. I had little regard for the film version because of the changes you noted. It was more sappy. And I missed songs like "Those Magic Changes" and I didn't care for Frank Valli's "Grease is the Word." But I have to say Olivia Newton John singing "Hopelessly Devoted To You" (an added song) and wearing spandex pants makes up for it.
Wow, that's a pretty awesome first Broadway experience! And I agree about "Grease is the Word" not really working... though you and I are probably in the minority on that one.
@@ShawnBRyanVideos BTW Very cool your on camera image is a muppet. I should have thought of that before I committed to on screen face time with my real face.
@@architecturecodex9818 Thanks! Aside from me not wanting to be on camera, it also makes filming a lot easier. (I don't envy you having to get dressed up in a nice shirt and blazer for your videos!)
I agree with you on the music. "Grease is the Word" sounds like the 1970s, especially the Bee Gees. "Hopelessly Devoted To You" sounds like the 1950s, especially Patsy Cline.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO!!!! I always tell people that the original play is nothing like the Movie. I'm still mad they literally copied the movie. Yeah they did Freddy My Love and Magic Changes but still. Magic Changes not done the way it was supposed to be done but oh well... I agree with everything in this video 100% I still love grease but hated the TV version. I still wish they would make the original play version but like you say, people love watered down nostalgia and that's what they love.
As I watched you describe the original production, I thought how funny/apt it would be for high schools to put on that version of the play. It never really struck me how the movie was all adults as I first watched it as a wee lad of 7 or 8 and high school kids were adults in my eyes... and never bothered to watch it after hitting high school age. The idea of 16 and 17 year Olds drinking and smoking and swearing on stage would put it into the proper context.
I think you’re 100% right about it being better in the OG form. My critique is primarily based on the movie and stage shows based on the movie which is what I am most familiar with. One thing I never really jived with was how the message that everyone seems to take from it was that you had to change yourself to get the guy (and how anti feminist that is) but i never really felt that was what was happening. In the movie version Sandy doesn’t really like who she is, and yes she changes for Danny but she also did it for herself. She’s a teenager who wants to be perceived differently and be happier with who she is as a person. Take Danny out of the equation and no one would bat an eye at why she changed, because that’s just a thing teenagers DO. They constantly reinvent themselves. Sometimes it’s for their love interest, sometimes it’s due to peer pressures, sometimes it’s due to bucking or conforming to societal expectations and sometimes it’s just because they want to try something new. In the ending scene Sandy seemed happier and more confident than at any point the rest of the movie but because she “changed herself for a man” no one cares about that. Also no one ever talks about how hard Danny tries to change into a jock for Sandy and if it is mentioned it’s seen as a good thing, just really showcasing the double standard on full display.
This is the second deep dive into grease I've seen, and you cover the exact same factual things, and yet this video is still completely different and covers a different aspect of the history; and I think that's so cool and fascinating
My mom was born in 1969 and she loved the movie version of grease. My grandparents that were born in the late 1940's, hated it. So that thing you said about the story no longer being for those nostaligic for the 50's, you were dead on.
Having stage managed a production of Grease in the early 90s I can assure you the bowdlerization of the lyrics has been going on for quite some time. In fact I recall a staging in the early 80s where the director explained to me how they cleaned up the songs. I would venture to say that romanticizing the 50s has been going back since at least Happy Days in the 70s. In fact I'm not sure you can really comment on modern 50s nostalgia without examining the influence of Happy Days on the greater culture. Interestingly enough if you do go down that rabbit hole the first stop is the show - Love American Style which has a sketch called Love and The Happy Days (originally - Love and the Television Set.) It features a number of actors including Ron Howard who go on to the series. Also, a lot of talk of sex from the get go - th-cam.com/video/86A3uzoq_wM/w-d-xo.html
actually, the 50's being romanticized started with shanana showing up at woodstock and then the movie american graffiti, which although set in 62 had a very strong 50s vibe to it...and also starred ron howard.
@@thewkovacs316 If memory serves correct, "American Graffiti" was one of the factors responsible for "Happy Days" becoming a TV series. Due the success of the show, 50s nostalgia became even bigger, and that's part of what lead to the late 1970s movie version of "Grease."
There was a version of Greased Lightning made for the Planet 51 soundtrack that removes all references to women and makes the song entirely about the car.
I saw a UK touring production in the mid 90s where Kenickie was played by who was a major gameshow host at the time (who now would be that guy from that soap opera you love.)
I never got into the movie-it never made sense to me. I was a Theatre kid but we never performed Grease. The versions of the play you talk about sound awesome! I’d love to see something like that! Subbed! I’d be into seeing more musical histories!
I always saw the movie with John Travolta. That was what I grew up with in the 70s and it's what I loved. I saw it live at the theater years back and was thrilled not only hearing the songs that were on the movie soundtrack (but hardly in the movie) being sang and were a big part of the show, but just how truly naughty the play really is. Loved every moment of it. The movie always will have a special fondness in my heart as its own thing, but the musical is its on beast as well and I love it just the same if not a bit more because I knew that's how it was orginally was or at least damn close to it. Great video.
how mythology happens. Now it's legend ... I don't even want to think about the next iteration where it will be diversely correct ... Thanks for introducing me to the original stage play, I'd only seen the movie as I was not a teen in the 50s ... I was like 10 years later. I enjoyed your analysis of where it started to where it's gone ...
yet again we have another work that was sanitized for popular consumption. I am glad they didn't make a musical out of the film The Wanderers 1979 If you need a vaction check this out the Puppets Up! International Puppet Festival Fri, Aug 12-Sun, Aug 14 Almonte Old Town Hall 14 Bridge St, Almonte, ON
Given how Broadway is turning everything into a musical these days, I wouldn't put it past them to adapt that movie as well. If "Groundhog Day" and "Back to the Future" aren't safe from musical adaptations, nothing is! Ooh, if I could make the trip up to Canada, that would be worth it...
I saw the national tour of the original Broadway production--not once, but twice--during its two-week engagement in Cincinnati OH. Tickets were only about $8.00 at the time in the early 1970s for orchestra seats and I was even able to take a date! Of course I saw the original movie too, which was choreographed by Patricia Birch, who expanded and reconceived her dances for the big screen. The satirical edge had been softened, but it was still there. I'm a purist and a traditionalist, and "revisals" as they're called, such as described here, are anathema to me.
Thanks for this video ! Now I definitely want to check out the original play when I have the chance. Like most my touch base for Grease is the '78 film. I love the music and wardrobe, it's a fun spectacle production, but I've never cared much for the story. The older I get the more I hare the ending. I appreciate the message of the original much more.
I think its really interesting cause I watched grease for the first time as a kid, and so much of it flew over my head. when I rewatched the movie in high school, I was absolutely shocked to realize how dirty it was! just last week I saw the musical, and I loved it - it had the grit, Rizzo was phenomenally portrayed, and Danny and sandy were just one part of a bigger story. I think following that rabbit trail of the super sanitized grease I remember as a kid versus the more gritty one I remember from high school versus the more mature one I just saw as a college student is reflective of my growth as a person - I don't think any portrayal, be it gritty or sanitized, is wrong, but just for different audiences at different times of their lives - grease will continue to be used to reflect where we are and how we view our past for a long time to come, I think !!
I had a much more visceral reaction than I was expecting to the 'maybe I'm wrong' segment (in a NO YOU'RE NOT!!) way, but I think I've figured it out: the kind of story that the original Grease was is important because it's the kind of story that focuses on acknowledging teenagers - kids - as... like, full people? As a group of people who exist today and have always existed, not just as something you used to be that can now be tucked away and looked back on for your own benefit as an adult. Like, I've had a really weird adjustment to make, personally, as I realise throughout my twenties that it's not as common as I thought for people to recall much about the kind of... emotional landscape of being a kid, whether that kid is six or sixteen, or at least that people seem to extend the understanding of 'I was like that once' to people who are kids currently, much more rarely than my personal instincts around that would lead me to expect. My feeling is that that phenomenon has a lot to do with stuff like the modern adaptations of Grease, where the adults working on it are more concerned with - not even their own experience of adolescence, because that's what the musical was originally founded on, but like - their own idea of themselves as adolescents, their current mindset as adults projected back onto their adolescent selves, rather than a focus on what it's like to *be* that age. But like... it's important for teenagers to have access to media/stories that reflect *their* experiences, not an adult's idea of what their experiences are based on the self-assurance that those adults were teenagers once (and surely can't have changed that much, right? they've always just been themselves, that's how everyone views themselves. surely the idea that teenagers shouldn't be exposed to stuff they're probably doing anyway has been in their brain the whole time). The thing is that for the most part, teenagers are reliant on adults to *create* the media that fulfils that need for them. Which means they're often relying on adults who can't fulfill it, who have that shrunken perspective as to what it's like to... not just have memories of the time they were teenagers, but more reflective memories of what it was like to *experience the world* as a teenager. So I think that kind of places more importance on media like the original Grease, which is a case of adults managing to actually provide that kind of story for teenagers in whichever era they're viewing it, and which case is the less common occurrence compared to stuff like the modern adaptations. It's the less common of the two, and instances of it getting commandeered by the popular approach means there's less of it out there for teens to access. Like, kids can't easily make this stuff - cohesive, skillfully-made stories - for themselves/each other, and even with the internet they can't necessarily replicate the kind of lasting (or, more accurately, socially encompassing) coverage for these stories that something produced within the adult world of mass media will achieve. It's not just that they're bombarded with the modern day answer to Sandra Dee and Doris Day or what Grease has now become, but that if they're going to be exposed to anything different through those established channels, they're largely dependent on sympathetic adults to provide media made to an adult's level of skill and understanding, for them to be exposed to. That's why I think you are very not wrong to be critical of where Grease has ended up - not because of any abstract critical reasons, imo, as much as what concrete consequences might arise out of the authenticity being stripped away. And they're consequences that are likely to affect a group of people who have like... still, honestly, comparatively little agency in society, because for every means of sharing their perspectives on social media, there's a long-entrenched media convention, set in place always by uncomprehending adults, that they'll have grown up around maybe without even realising they've been exposed to/influenced by it.
In 2013, I was in a Community theater production. And while we had a copy of the script that had “All Choked Up” we inserted tons of movie stuff. Opened with “Grease is the Word,” inserted “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and “You’re the One that I Want.” “All Choked Up” is cut, we made it so the set in the finale was a carnival. But we still had *some* fake cigarettes. And we left in the “Wanna watch Mickey Mouse Club” dialogue.
I would be very interested to see you do a breakdown like this for the musical Cabaret. It is perhaps THE MOST changed musical between its inception and the versions made today. Oddly though, the modern versions are in a lot of ways more accurate to the events and people the musical was originally based on than it's earlier incarnations.
just found this video and i feel very much the same way about chicagos current stage production (as much as i love ann reinking and appreciate them getting rid of some of the... unnecessary stuff from the 1975 production) what gets me is that what makes the film version work so well is that the director directed a version pre revival on broadway i think and incorporated many elements of that in the film, so its interesting that in a way, the reverse happened with grease
When I first met my now-wife 32 years ago, I had the 1972 OBC Grease album playing in my car. She thought the raunchy lyrics of Greased Lightning (and Alone at the Drive-in Movie) were an "interesting" choice for a first date. Fortunately, she didn't hold it against me (obviously).
So glad I found this before I go do a production of the show! This show is produced often without ANY sense of irony, or satire. the generational filters are REAL
I remembered the 78 movie. I never looked at it as a depiction of the 50's but loosely based on the 50's. I mean not one minority come on. Well there was Cha Cha, "the best dancer at St. Bernadettes".😂 At my age, then, I accepted it and enjoyed the escapism and feel good vibe of the movie. I was surprised when nieces and nephews enjoyed the 78 movie in the 90s and early 2000s. Something is standing the test of time.
Absolutely, as much as I might criticize the '78 movie, it's really well-made. Yeah, the movie wasn't too concerned with accurately depicting its time period. I love how the songs written for the stage show are deliberately reflecting 50s musical trends, while the movie-exclusive songs sound like 70s pop music.
It was the new rise of the pink ladies. This has been an informative video to see how much this trend in grease affects their take on the esthetic and writing of the show.
I loved the 1978 movie growing up in the 90s, but always took it as pure camp and never considered that there was an alternative reading. I was also familiar with the Broadway cast album, which may have influenced my overall conception of how the story was framed. I remember eventually reading a Stephen King novel (I think it was Christine) from that era and thinking how unrelatable the narrator was in one scene when he criticizes the movie Grease as being fake and superficial. I wasn’t sure if the character was supposed to come across as dull and not getting it, or if it was the author himself pulling a poor example and writing a teenager shallowly
I think that new version shames the characters and ideas of the original. And that part w objectifying the female dancers while scrubbing the lyrics clean is so spot on.
My "history" with Grease is very short. It was rereleased into theatres when I was an early teen/kid (I honestly don't remember my exact age). I went with my mom and a friend. We left maybe half way through it. I have always heard how much a classic it was, but I didn't enjoy it AT ALL at the time. Perhaps I was too young to get it. In your comparison you mentioned the Wonder Years. That is one of my favorite shows. I also really love Mash (another show made about a time in the past). You make the original musical sound like something I would definitely be interested in. Is there an easy way to watch the original version?
As far as I know, there's no way to watch the original version, but you might want to try the movie version again as an adult. About 95% of the lines from the Broadway play are used, and most of the changes come from additional songs, jokes, and subplots. I remember not enjoying the movie very much as a kid either, so I was really surprised how much I enjoyed it now. The humor is very much geared towards adults, the performances are all pretty fun, and it's shot in a really cinematic 2.39 : 1 aspect ratio. I know from your channel that you've been watching Picard and Strange New Worlds. If you've got a Paramount+ subscription already, you should give it a shot.
@@ShawnBRyanVideos Well sounds like I have easy access to it, I guess I will give it another shot. Maybe I will finally understand some pop culture references I have been missing out on my entire life! I would be pretty curious to discover if my impressions of what it is turn out to be completely off the mark. for that reason alone, it should prove to be a good experiment! I do have paramount+. I kinda miss when it was CBS all access because I cancelled my subscription to them but they never cancelled my access to watch shows. I think they were pretty broken. haha
@@windgraceproject It's not a masterpiece, but it's a solid crowd pleaser. There's a reason it was the 5th highest grossing movie of the 1970s... but there's also it's not mentioned in the same company as the 4 movies that grossed more than it (Star Wars, Superman, The Godfather, and Jaws). If you're in the mood for a light musical, it's worth checking out.
@@ShawnBRyanVideos You always make solid defenses of things. I will give it a shot at some point when I have the time. For some reason, I have found myself watching "feature length" things less and less over time. I end up watching 2 episodes of an hour long TV show (or 4 of a half hour). I wonder what this phenomenon is?
@@windgraceproject Yeah, I get that and I'm guilty of it myself. I think part of it is how TV shows have act breaks every 7-ish minutes and keep you hooked, while movies (especially older ones) take more patience to get through.
Lol to this say I've never seen Grease. When I was a ninth grader (like 07-08) I remember the teacher put this on for the class and I asked if I could sit outside cause I wasn't feeling it (I hated musicals/over the top singing as a kid) and the teacher actually let me so I sat outside the classroom playing Pokemon Gold
LOL at the "pussy wagon" lyric. Nice historical context on the evolution of this play - really did get me reflecting on how art (and meaning) gets mutilated by a directors and script writers desire to appeal to "modern audiences". Even the nature of what was nostalgic in the 70s about the 50s had transformed in subsequent generations, infused with whatever modern interpretations the stylists decide. Interestingly enough, the movie Grease starred 70s icons which made it an odd cross-generational nostalgic movie in its own right. I have a feeling that if Andy Warhol were alive, he would love the calamity created by this play morphing into the kitch mess it has become.
I think Danny Zuko tends to fall into a trend in musicals of people trying to make the lead character too likeable/ relatable. Even in the og Broadway version which is already a cleaned up version from the Chicago version Barry Bostwicks Danny is far more obnoxious than John travolta’s in like a Jim Carrey like way.
When I was little I remember my dad had a VHS tape he had that was a recording of the original stage Musical it was Fuzzy and in a low-quality but I really loved that production then in 2007 my parents took me to see grease on Broadway and I loved it it was the Perfect Blend of the original Broadway version with songs from the movie although it was less raunchy than the original Broadway version if they ever make a remake I hope and pray that it sticks closer to the original Broadway version although I understand if they make it less raunchy... also in the 2007 Revival they also change the line from pussy wagon to draggin' wagon
I was working as an usher when the national tour came around in the late 1990's. We had so many walk out of it, and wanting their money back. Unfortunately, one of the policies was that they couldn't get their money back because 15 minutes of the show had already passed. One patron had gotten so mad that she yelled at me, and the box office staff saying that it wasn't like the movie. I calmly said, "M'am, it took you 15 minutes to realize that? Besides, the musical play came out seven years before the movie. This version is much tamer than the original." Yeah, I shouldn't have said all that, but I swear she deserved it. 😉😇😆
I saw the movie first, but I knew there were differences between the two. Still, I was surprised to see how small the cast of the play was by comparison. I thought, "Where is everybody?" I guess that's the case with most stage vs. film versions, though.
I want to see the original now, sounds like it fixes all the issues I've always had with the movie. Soooo glad I never watched Grease Live, I will continue avoiding it like the plague.
i saw the original musical it is a cynical look at the era the movie is almost disneyfied the movie version drops two songs.....alone at the drive in...which is turned into an instrumental and all choked up...which is where sandy becomes the assertive one and danny submissive and it wasnt just the media that painted a different picture of life during that time it was the educational films that kids were shown in school...the entire era was about "conformity"
im reading justice league from the late 80s and am really surprised that even then, they had the same mentality of nowadays making fun of things everyone does even more now
EXCELLENT! By the way I attend the real GREASE school / TAFT from 1961-1965 just after the 'Grease Class of 1960" Might you add to you review? Did you watch the recent cable TV series: RISE OF THE PINK LADIES ? It had no relationaship to the Pink Ladies of TAFT!
"You Americans" have such a funny, and concerning, relationship to sex! I'm Swedish so that's my cultural bias but it seems to me like American society has managed to land at both extremes when it comes to sex: everything is either sexual or sexualized but it's still very shameful and taboo. Obviously it makes less sense to me since I'm an outsider looking in but as an example, there's an abundance of scantily clad women in American media while schoolgirls get penalized for showing a bra strap and it's controversial to breastfeed in public. Like, you have sexual depictions in everyday media that even I find a bit scandalous but then manage to see something outrageous in what I think of as normal or at least mundane. I would've thought the media depictions would be desensitizing but nope! One might come to the conclusion that it's all fine as long as it's in the context of a performance or something like that but then you get examples like in this video where the sexual lyrics were censored but the sexual dancing and clothes weren't. Is it a case of plausible deniability? Explicit lyrics are what they are but explicit dancing demands some imagination to be understood? I hope I managed to convey my thoughts in a respectful way, I'm well aware all Americans don't think the same way and that you're not a cultural monolith. These are just my impressions and I'd love to hear someone else's thoughts on the subject!
I was 9 when I saw it at the cinema on its original release in Australia. I loved Happy Days and the soundtrack was huge on the radio so I nagged to see it. My parents had recently separated and this was amongst the first weekends my father had with me. I have no idea what he thought of the film, but I was returned to my mum with my hair permed and ears pierced just like Sandy. I don't think she was impressed.
I remember in the 80s I went to see a touring company version of it in DC. It starred Jack Wagner from General Hospital as Danny. They did the original songs from the play and did not do any of the movie songs. I really enjoyed it even though it was different from the movie. Years later, I saw another touring version which started Rosie O’Donnell as Rizzo. I really did not like that version. It was too “out there”.
Can't we have both. God I hate this mentality where everybody thinks their version of a property should be the one and only one. It's like they can't be happy knowing a version of a play, movie, tv show, or record exists that they don't like.
The reason we "can't have both" is because the remakes never force the viewer to know the other version. It deletes the original. They never know it existed. That's the issue. It's like when people use a song sample, listeners know the new song but never listen to the song that inspired it.
@@BritneyBritney101 That is patently false. If anything it makes people aware of the existence of earlier/original property. I'd never had known of the stage version of Grease if it hadn't been for the movie.
I honestly never liked Grease, well that is the movie of Grease. My theater is doing a production of the original stage play, and i had tried for months to connect with it, watching the movie, over and over again. But every time I watched it I was like, “this is complete bs.” So it was hard for me to get into it honestly. I wish I hadn’t gone in with the movie in my head, because holy shit the musical was so much better. It felt much less like some stupid cheesy love story and more like a real, raw version of being a teen. The stage play is so much better, in my opinion, and I will die on that hill. I honestly love all the characters, and it’s made me actually feel strongly about the characters and the story. 10/10 would recommend over the movie
Re: Greased Lightnin’-it’s a little more nuanced than just “this car will attract women”. The rise in popularity of cars among teens in the 50s and 60s was kind of a major cultural shift, and one of the reasons why courtship was definitively replaced with dating. It also gave teens access to one thing that wasn’t at all prevalent before-Privacy. Cars were a major contribution to the rise of teen subculture in general. Or maybe I’m just over-thinking it because Grease is my current hyperfixation lol. But whether or not the song is referencing it, cars among teens in the 50s were A Big Deal™️
I wish we had footage of either original (Chicago and New York production) and the thirteen year old revival of the Chicago production to see. I grew up with the movie (jokes went over my head as kid) but I recently began to have a big appreciation for the original production when I read an analysis of the show from New Line Theatre Director Scott Miller. It made me realize how little I knew of the show. I even have an old copy of the original Broadway script before it got cleaned .
Hot take roast me lol. As bad as Grease 2/ cool rider is I would argue that it actually captures the grit and bite that the original goes for that is ruined by the over sanitization. Also a lot of the sanitization is bad. The current iteration of the script is the perfect example of the weird standards of censorship and the FCC and whoever runs Broadway standards. Like saying the F word a bunch of times is unacceptable but making a bunch of creepy jokes about the underage girls on the Mickey Mouse club that sexualizes them is fine.
Thanks, that was a very interesting commentary about Grease. To me the John Travolta and Olivia Newton John film is the best and every thing after that is inferior and not worth watching.. .Looking at the film now it's striking how none of the characters, who are meant to be school children, look anything like school children. It is sanitized by having adult actors singing songs with adult themes so we don't have to think too much about these characters being school children. Maybe if the actors had all been the age of the actual characters then the film would have been a whole lot more troubling and not as popular.
Oh, this video would work wonders in a class about post-modernism in cinema and musicals??? I loved it 😮 and Grease finally made sense for 10yo me. 😂 But i guess watching it with your mom saying that Rizzo is def the kind of girl who will die of a STD isnt the greatest way to frame that movie.... Also, i always thought SANDY'S NAME WAS SANDRA DEE! JESUS, THEY WEREN'T EXACTLY BULLYING HER THEN??? OH GOD. Movie did dirty to Rizzo 😮
Way to ruin one of my favorite movies. To be honest, we don't have the same culture in my country. We do have an image for the 50s, 60s and other decades, but different from America. At least until the last few decades where our cultures are kind of merged. That said, I wasn't aware of the original play and the others. I just knew the movie and its love story. As a musician I loved the music but (as it's the case today) I never payed attention to the lyrics or what they meant, and I also loved the love story. In the end, I don't know how it will affect my enjoyment of the movie yet. I might check the plays before researching the movie to understand better your side. Anyways, take my sub and leave me alone... For now. Cheers from France! 🍻
As a gen zer I have lived through very little, but the fact that we keep rebooting and revamping shit really pisses me off..we don't need other version of shows and movies that we have already fell in love with. We don't need you to bring back movies from the 90s 80s 70s 50s we can watch the original and know that it will always be better than the remake with some exceptions, but not many. It fucking makes me sick that we can't have an original idea anymore, because it was already done and done better. We so badly what to rewrite the past knowing full well we can't. TL;DR: LEAVE MOVIES AND TV SHOWS FROM THE PAST ALONE, THEY WERE BETTER BEFORE YOU FUCKED WITH THEM. AND WHO REALLY CARES IF THEY DON'T HOLD UP? I DON'T!
I think that's a really good point. I feel like studios somehow think that members of Gen Z won't sit through older movies and shows, and need to have them remade specifically for these younger audience members. As if folks in their twenties don't have the attention span to sit through a movie made in the 80s... it's more than a little insulting. Meanwhile, I feel bad for members of Gen Z who aren't getting their own new franchises to fall in love with. Instead, they're getting hand-me-down from previous generations.
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They need to make a new movie version that's very close to the ORIGNAL 1971 play. That would mean, reinstating all the numbers that didn't make the movie version and NOT including the songs written for the movie i.e., Hopelessly Devoted To you, Sandy, You're The One That I Want, and the Title Song. Remember I'm Talking about the original play not the various revivals that incorporate elements of the movie. That's the kind of movie adaptation we need.
I'm not sure what audiences would make of an R-rated movie musical. At least here in the U.S. You'd probably get parents complaining about it being unsuitable for their kids.
Agreed. Of course, there will be loads of complaints on social media about "remakes" with commenters not understanding that it wouldn't be a remake of the movie, but a closer adaptation of the original play.
Perhaps, to lead up to it, a streamed series about Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey and their struggles bringing the play itself from the Kingston Mines, to the Eden Theater, to ultimately Broadway itself, and then the movie.
Reading about that, there was a lot of interesting drama that would make for a fascinating show (apparently Jim Jacobs almost got into a fist fight with Broadway producer Ken Waissman!), and that could prime mainstream audiences for a theatrical film adaptation of the 1971 play.
@@ttintagel Yeah, I hate GOP
I don’t think anyone would like.
Everyone would immediately compare it to John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. And they’d all complain “You’re The One That I Want wasn’t in it.”
@@ECKohns The original song in the play was All Choked Up. Also "Sandy" wasn't in the original play. A Song called Alone At A Drive In Movie was sung by Danny instead.
Everything you said was so true. They absolutely did rizzo wrong. I just wish grease would go back to it's original roots and not embody some ice cream sundae aesthetic musical.
That would be nice. Paramount has multiple Grease-related projects in the works right now, and it'll be interesting to see what route they take. I'm... not optimistic.
@@ShawnBRyanVideos Sadly, I don't think we'll ever see the original Broadway version of Grease again -- except perhaps (if we're lucky) in an occasional stage revival. I think future generations and incarnations will always be slaves to the blockbuster movie version. Too bad.
@ShawnBRyanVideos I got this in my suggestions after looking up info on the new show...which I did watch last night. For my money, it could've been a whole lot worse. The leads are all fun and the one direct reference to two of the characters from the original story were used to good effect.
While the series does take it's visual cues from the film, it definitely feels more in the spirit of the original play in terms of providing critique of the time period it was in as well as the one it was made in.
Imagine being in 2073 and see your grandson's elementary school stage play version of euphoria
As a Chicagoan, I wish there would be another tour or regional run of the original '71 Chicago story. Just experiencing the version with the gritty interactions and commentary of teens from blue collar/working-class families living life in the Northwest Side would have been great.
There is one important aspect of the 1971 Kingston Mines show that survived into the off-Broadway and Broadway versions, but was significantly played down (to the point of practical non-existence) for the 1978 movie, and I'm not talking about the sexual situations, which admittedly, was a huge part of the show.
The T-Birds of the movie (The Burger Palace Boys of the stage play) are supposed to be a fighting youth gang.
After the dance, they wait around for their rivals, and Sonny enters with a zip gun, ready to shoot their rivals. Their rivals (The Flaming Dukes of the stage versions, The Scorpions of the movie) don't show, so the boys almost turn their weapons on each other.
The whole reason for this violent absurdity? Danny and Kenickie danced with Cha-Cha, the girlfriend of the rival gang leader, and he took their dancing with "his" girl as a sign of disrespect. (Curiously, they danced with her because of the contest, but they talk about her behind her back because, in the play, unlike the movie, she is obese, and their insults behind her back are less than "sensitive" or "understanding," as they refer to her as "Godzilla" and "a bughouse." Being gang members, they weren't exactly nice.)
Considering that there were real-life 50s-era gang shootings over possession of girls, at dances, between rival gangs, the most notorious having occurred in 1959 (the year that Grease supposedly takes place), a prime example being the shooting death of 15-year-old Theresa Gee committed by 17-year-old John Cruz during the Sportsmen/Forsyth Street Boys gang war in Manhattan's Lower East Side in August of 1959...the play version was touching on the reality of 1950s gang life. (Apparently, Jim Jacobs did run with a Chicago gang when he attended Taft High in the late 1950s.)
The 1978 movie may have kept the sexual double standards of the 1950s, but (in the name of "feel good nostalgia") made these gang kids a little less vicious than they were in the live play versions.
In fact, like most 1970s-made 50s nostalgic movies, the movie version of Grease makes them goofy, (while equating street gangs with car clubs, having said street gang members enthusiastically participate in a Dick Clark-like Bandstand TV dance show, and oddly, making them unfamiliar with sports), all of which (for those who know about the reality of 1950s youth gang history) is every bit as rooted in fantasy as that flying car that carries Danny and Sandy off into the clouds at the end of the movie.
In that sense, the movie version makes 1950s youth gangs...kid friendly.
The movie does make a short reference to the fact that the T-Birds do fight, When the Scorpions first show up, one of the boys complain that they are in "their" territory, wonders if they are looking for a rumble, and takes out a switchblade.
@@rosabellaalvarez-calderon4586 yes, it is done a bit more lighthearted in the movie than in the stage play.
Doody doesn't carry a water pistol to threaten their rivals (The Scorpions of the movie, The Flaming Dukes of the stage plays), but rather, a broken car aerial antenna, which real life gang members of the 1950s often used to slice up the faces of their rivals. (Some members of The Corsair Lords and Mau Mau Chaplains apparently used them, in addition to the knives, garrison belts, and pistols in their rumbles, such as the notorious April 1958 Coney Island rumble that degenerated into a riot along the New York subways.)
Jim Jacobs had ran with a Chicago teen gang at Taft High, so I can see why he wasn't happy with the more goofball portrayals that Carr, Stigwood, Woodward, and Kleiser initiated for the film, though, being released at the height of the Fifties Nostalgia Fad, I also get why the filmmakers went with that route.
@@Mike_The_1950s_Historian That water-pistol was so goofy, that in my memories, by association, Kenickie's switchblade was turned into comb. I had to check, and indeed, it was a switchblade, my mind was just playing tricks on me :)
...I'm just gonna watch West Side Story
@@cascharles3838 actually West Side Story is a personal favorite.😁
I'm a fan of the movie version, but after seeing this video and another one where I learned what the original concept of the stage play was, I would really like to see the original version. I'm sure this will probably never happen as people would complain "it's not like the movie". I didn't watch the version that was on NBC a few years back, and I'm glad I didn't. Rizzo being jealous of Sandy is absolutely bananas. There is no world where she would be. I heard that John Travolta wouldn't do the movie unless he got to sing Greased Lightning. I didn't even know it was originally Kenicke's song till years later.
I'd wager it is VERY unlikely you'd find anyone putting on the original original...the stage versions have incorporated the movie songs, and I believe that's the only one that can be licensed. I could be wrong, but I don't think so :/
the decision with greased lightin was made at the last minute- and came down with a thud during the shoot-but John was the star.
My 18-25 theatre group did a production of the original Grease stage show, and the director really helped us too connect with the nitty gritty of all the characters and connect them to the realistic parts of our own lives. This criticism is so valid. I always love your videos, you have such a cohesive train of thought on all your points.
I’m in a lot of these photos and vids: played Pink Lady Jan in National Tour & on Broadway in ‘74-‘76. I was a child in the 50s, but I was afraid of, and thrilled by, the teenage hoods at my Catholic school. I loved the music. Those songs were played as people entered the theater every nights- “ Earth Angel.” Etc. I felt like a teenager every night though I was mid-twenties. When I saw the movie, I enjoyed it but all that 50s feeling was gone, as said in this video. I was sad that my favorite number,” Freddy My love” was gone- seeing Katy Hanley do that at the Eden Theater was what made me long to be on that musical- and a few years later I was. My daughter loved the movie. Thanks for this wonderful critique!
Glad this shines a light on the characters discussing the influence of the 1950s actress Sandra Dee. SOOO many people seem to think ‘Sandra Dee’ IS Sandy’s same.
This perfectly explains my issues with the movie! Now I want a 1971 version!!
I think the "liking the modern grease" thing is kinda like why things like Kidz Bop exist: To please a certain audience that might not be the ones who you might expect. Most places i've seen made grease plays weren't doing it about the story, they were doing because of the "cutesy 50s dresses and dancy songs" i've heard a couple of times and to please parents in the presentation night that are forced to go.
Grease was transformed from a edgy accurate enough satirization of the 50s for adults that experienced the 50s first hand to basically a Kidz Bop version of the original grease: a kid-friendly play that relies on the fake nostalgia for the 50s from people that weren't even born around the original play to say "yeah, that's totally how the 50s were"
A Kidz Bop version of Grease. That is a perfect description of that television version.
I was a tween when the movie came out, and I knew nothing of the play (except that there had been one) so the movie was for a long time the only Grease I knew. I saw it first run in theaters, asked for and got the soundtrack for Christmas, and spun off elements into imaginative play with my best friend. We were both 50s-crazed for a while there. I had and wore saddle shoes.
As the child of older parents (mid-forties when I came along) and a history geek, it's not lost on me how different the fifties I fell for in the Grease movie were from the fifties my parents lived through (though even they were adults at the time.) I would love to see either a stage production (preferable) of the original play, as intended, or a *faithful* film adaptation of the original. As eighties kids will understand, "totally different head. Totally."
As the fourth Rizzo in the Broadway production, I totally agree with you. I recently went to see a production in a nearby town that missed all of the details of what was important to me in that show. I guess the new version has songs from the movies. But I have to say, I missed the 50s…
I have always loved "Grease". When the movie first came out, I was 12, but I instantly fell in love with it. Learning that it was based on a stage play, I immediately had to research this and explored the script, score and original cast album of the original stage version which fascinated me in its changes (much the same as I had done with "The Sound of Music", to be honest). The origins of the musical with its crass language and more straightforward nostalgic story and ensemble cast of characters really intrigued me. I was even lucky enough to catch a live performance of the original show at one of its final bus-and-truck touring performances which verified everything I had wondered about. The movie was tons of fun and I have always enjoyed it, but I REALLY wish that when the musical is revived that they would return to its origins and present the show as it was originally done on Broadway. I kind of resent revivals of the show which deviate from the original source material and make the show into an homage to the movie. (Really, if you just want to see the movie, then just stay home and watch the movie!) I directed a professional production of the show in the late 1980s and insisted that everything stick to the original script, score and concept (like glue!). It was a real (and I think pleasant) eye-opener for all who saw and participated -- grit and all! I would do it again in a hearbeat.
Wow, the production you directed must have been something to see! I wonder if you'd be able to stage a production like that today, or if the rights holders are more protective of the material now.
From what I hear, the new West End production is an interesting amalgam of both the 1978 film and the original production. You've movie-exclusive songs like "Grease is the Word" alongside long-lost stuff like "The Tattoo Song." And they've kept some of the harder-edged elements while acknowledging, "Yeah, we know that this is problematic. That's kind of the point..."
I've got no clue if it's any good, but it certainly seems like an interesting move.
I really wish they would have stuck to the original play but probably wouldn't have been as popular or as marketable.
Seeing the original Grease theatrical production was my first Broadway experience. I had little regard for the film version because of the changes you noted. It was more sappy. And I missed songs like "Those Magic Changes" and I didn't care for Frank Valli's "Grease is the Word." But I have to say Olivia Newton John singing "Hopelessly Devoted To You" (an added song) and wearing spandex pants makes up for it.
Wow, that's a pretty awesome first Broadway experience! And I agree about "Grease is the Word" not really working... though you and I are probably in the minority on that one.
@@ShawnBRyanVideos BTW Very cool your on camera image is a muppet. I should have thought of that before I committed to on screen face time with my real face.
@@architecturecodex9818 Thanks! Aside from me not wanting to be on camera, it also makes filming a lot easier. (I don't envy you having to get dressed up in a nice shirt and blazer for your videos!)
I agree with you on the music. "Grease is the Word" sounds like the 1970s, especially the Bee Gees. "Hopelessly Devoted To You" sounds like the 1950s, especially Patsy Cline.
and "Mooning"
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO!!!! I always tell people that the original play is nothing like the Movie. I'm still mad they literally copied the movie. Yeah they did Freddy My Love and Magic Changes but still. Magic Changes not done the way it was supposed to be done but oh well...
I agree with everything in this video 100% I still love grease but hated the TV version. I still wish they would make the original play version but like you say, people love watered down nostalgia and that's what they love.
As I watched you describe the original production, I thought how funny/apt it would be for high schools to put on that version of the play.
It never really struck me how the movie was all adults as I first watched it as a wee lad of 7 or 8 and high school kids were adults in my eyes... and never bothered to watch it after hitting high school age.
The idea of 16 and 17 year Olds drinking and smoking and swearing on stage would put it into the proper context.
high schools do stage the original version...you can see some productions here on youtube
I think you’re 100% right about it being better in the OG form.
My critique is primarily based on the movie and stage shows based on the movie which is what I am most familiar with. One thing I never really jived with was how the message that everyone seems to take from it was that you had to change yourself to get the guy (and how anti feminist that is) but i never really felt that was what was happening. In the movie version Sandy doesn’t really like who she is, and yes she changes for Danny but she also did it for herself. She’s a teenager who wants to be perceived differently and be happier with who she is as a person. Take Danny out of the equation and no one would bat an eye at why she changed, because that’s just a thing teenagers DO. They constantly reinvent themselves. Sometimes it’s for their love interest, sometimes it’s due to peer pressures, sometimes it’s due to bucking or conforming to societal expectations and sometimes it’s just because they want to try something new.
In the ending scene Sandy seemed happier and more confident than at any point the rest of the movie but because she “changed herself for a man” no one cares about that. Also no one ever talks about how hard Danny tries to change into a jock for Sandy and if it is mentioned it’s seen as a good thing, just really showcasing the double standard on full display.
This is the second deep dive into grease I've seen, and you cover the exact same factual things, and yet this video is still completely different and covers a different aspect of the history; and I think that's so cool and fascinating
My mom was born in 1969 and she loved the movie version of grease. My grandparents that were born in the late 1940's, hated it. So that thing you said about the story no longer being for those nostaligic for the 50's, you were dead on.
Having stage managed a production of Grease in the early 90s I can assure you the bowdlerization of the lyrics has been going on for quite some time. In fact I recall a staging in the early 80s where the director explained to me how they cleaned up the songs. I would venture to say that romanticizing the 50s has been going back since at least Happy Days in the 70s. In fact I'm not sure you can really comment on modern 50s nostalgia without examining the influence of Happy Days on the greater culture. Interestingly enough if you do go down that rabbit hole the first stop is the show - Love American Style which has a sketch called Love and The Happy Days (originally - Love and the Television Set.) It features a number of actors including Ron Howard who go on to the series. Also, a lot of talk of sex from the get go - th-cam.com/video/86A3uzoq_wM/w-d-xo.html
actually, the 50's being romanticized started with shanana showing up at woodstock and then the movie american graffiti, which although set in 62 had a very strong 50s vibe to it...and also starred ron howard.
@@thewkovacs316 If memory serves correct, "American Graffiti" was one of the factors responsible for "Happy Days" becoming a TV series. Due the success of the show, 50s nostalgia became even bigger, and that's part of what lead to the late 1970s movie version of "Grease."
You should try reviewing West Side Story (the musical and both the 1961 and 2021 films) and it's impact on culture to theatre and film.
There was a version of Greased Lightning made for the Planet 51 soundtrack that removes all references to women and makes the song entirely about the car.
I saw a UK touring production in the mid 90s where Kenickie was played by who was a major gameshow host at the time (who now would be that guy from that soap opera you love.)
I never got into the movie-it never made sense to me. I was a Theatre kid but we never performed Grease. The versions of the play you talk about sound awesome! I’d love to see something like that! Subbed! I’d be into seeing more musical histories!
You continue to knock these out of the park. Wow!!!
Ha! Thanks, I appreciate it!!
Agreed!!!!!!
I watched the movie, and I was REALLY LIKING IT I still do. I’m like 17 and I genuinely want to watch the Broadway production still.
I always saw the movie with John Travolta. That was what I grew up with in the 70s and it's what I loved. I saw it live at the theater years back and was thrilled not only hearing the songs that were on the movie soundtrack (but hardly in the movie) being sang and were a big part of the show, but just how truly naughty the play really is. Loved every moment of it. The movie always will have a special fondness in my heart as its own thing, but the musical is its on beast as well and I love it just the same if not a bit more because I knew that's how it was orginally was or at least damn close to it. Great video.
how mythology happens. Now it's legend ... I don't even want to think about the next iteration where it will be diversely correct ... Thanks for introducing me to the original stage play, I'd only seen the movie as I was not a teen in the 50s ... I was like 10 years later. I enjoyed your analysis of where it started to where it's gone ...
yet again we have another work that was sanitized for popular consumption. I am glad they didn't make a musical out of the film The Wanderers 1979 If you need a vaction check this out the Puppets Up! International Puppet Festival Fri, Aug 12-Sun, Aug 14
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Given how Broadway is turning everything into a musical these days, I wouldn't put it past them to adapt that movie as well. If "Groundhog Day" and "Back to the Future" aren't safe from musical adaptations, nothing is!
Ooh, if I could make the trip up to Canada, that would be worth it...
I saw the national tour of the original Broadway production--not once, but twice--during its two-week engagement in Cincinnati OH. Tickets were only about $8.00 at the time in the early 1970s for orchestra seats and I was even able to take a date! Of course I saw the original movie too, which was choreographed by Patricia Birch, who expanded and reconceived her dances for the big screen. The satirical edge had been softened, but it was still there. I'm a purist and a traditionalist, and "revisals" as they're called, such as described here, are anathema to me.
Thanks for this video ! Now I definitely want to check out the original play when I have the chance. Like most my touch base for Grease is the '78 film. I love the music and wardrobe, it's a fun spectacle production, but I've never cared much for the story. The older I get the more I hare the ending. I appreciate the message of the original much more.
I think its really interesting cause I watched grease for the first time as a kid, and so much of it flew over my head. when I rewatched the movie in high school, I was absolutely shocked to realize how dirty it was! just last week I saw the musical, and I loved it - it had the grit, Rizzo was phenomenally portrayed, and Danny and sandy were just one part of a bigger story. I think following that rabbit trail of the super sanitized grease I remember as a kid versus the more gritty one I remember from high school versus the more mature one I just saw as a college student is reflective of my growth as a person - I don't think any portrayal, be it gritty or sanitized, is wrong, but just for different audiences at different times of their lives - grease will continue to be used to reflect where we are and how we view our past for a long time to come, I think !!
I had a much more visceral reaction than I was expecting to the 'maybe I'm wrong' segment (in a NO YOU'RE NOT!!) way, but I think I've figured it out: the kind of story that the original Grease was is important because it's the kind of story that focuses on acknowledging teenagers - kids - as... like, full people? As a group of people who exist today and have always existed, not just as something you used to be that can now be tucked away and looked back on for your own benefit as an adult.
Like, I've had a really weird adjustment to make, personally, as I realise throughout my twenties that it's not as common as I thought for people to recall much about the kind of... emotional landscape of being a kid, whether that kid is six or sixteen, or at least that people seem to extend the understanding of 'I was like that once' to people who are kids currently, much more rarely than my personal instincts around that would lead me to expect. My feeling is that that phenomenon has a lot to do with stuff like the modern adaptations of Grease, where the adults working on it are more concerned with - not even their own experience of adolescence, because that's what the musical was originally founded on, but like - their own idea of themselves as adolescents, their current mindset as adults projected back onto their adolescent selves, rather than a focus on what it's like to *be* that age.
But like... it's important for teenagers to have access to media/stories that reflect *their* experiences, not an adult's idea of what their experiences are based on the self-assurance that those adults were teenagers once (and surely can't have changed that much, right? they've always just been themselves, that's how everyone views themselves. surely the idea that teenagers shouldn't be exposed to stuff they're probably doing anyway has been in their brain the whole time). The thing is that for the most part, teenagers are reliant on adults to *create* the media that fulfils that need for them. Which means they're often relying on adults who can't fulfill it, who have that shrunken perspective as to what it's like to... not just have memories of the time they were teenagers, but more reflective memories of what it was like to *experience the world* as a teenager. So I think that kind of places more importance on media like the original Grease, which is a case of adults managing to actually provide that kind of story for teenagers in whichever era they're viewing it, and which case is the less common occurrence compared to stuff like the modern adaptations. It's the less common of the two, and instances of it getting commandeered by the popular approach means there's less of it out there for teens to access. Like, kids can't easily make this stuff - cohesive, skillfully-made stories - for themselves/each other, and even with the internet they can't necessarily replicate the kind of lasting (or, more accurately, socially encompassing) coverage for these stories that something produced within the adult world of mass media will achieve. It's not just that they're bombarded with the modern day answer to Sandra Dee and Doris Day or what Grease has now become, but that if they're going to be exposed to anything different through those established channels, they're largely dependent on sympathetic adults to provide media made to an adult's level of skill and understanding, for them to be exposed to.
That's why I think you are very not wrong to be critical of where Grease has ended up - not because of any abstract critical reasons, imo, as much as what concrete consequences might arise out of the authenticity being stripped away. And they're consequences that are likely to affect a group of people who have like... still, honestly, comparatively little agency in society, because for every means of sharing their perspectives on social media, there's a long-entrenched media convention, set in place always by uncomprehending adults, that they'll have grown up around maybe without even realising they've been exposed to/influenced by it.
In 2013, I was in a Community theater production. And while we had a copy of the script that had “All Choked Up” we inserted tons of movie stuff.
Opened with “Grease is the Word,” inserted “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and “You’re the One that I Want.” “All Choked Up” is cut, we made it so the set in the finale was a carnival. But we still had *some* fake cigarettes. And we left in the “Wanna watch Mickey Mouse Club” dialogue.
I would be very interested to see you do a breakdown like this for the musical Cabaret. It is perhaps THE MOST changed musical between its inception and the versions made today. Oddly though, the modern versions are in a lot of ways more accurate to the events and people the musical was originally based on than it's earlier incarnations.
I wish you talked about the contest of Grease is the Word. It was a TV series of auditioning Grease characters for yet another revamp of the show.
just found this video and i feel very much the same way about chicagos current stage production (as much as i love ann reinking and appreciate them getting rid of some of the... unnecessary stuff from the 1975 production)
what gets me is that what makes the film version work so well is that the director directed a version pre revival on broadway i think and incorporated many elements of that in the film, so its interesting that in a way, the reverse happened with grease
When I first met my now-wife 32 years ago, I had the 1972 OBC Grease album playing in my car. She thought the raunchy lyrics of Greased Lightning (and Alone at the Drive-in Movie) were an "interesting" choice for a first date. Fortunately, she didn't hold it against me (obviously).
So glad I found this before I go do a production of the show!
This show is produced often without ANY sense of irony, or satire. the generational filters are REAL
21:48 there is a reprise of the Alma Mater in the 1994 version - only that the Alma Mater is a slow acapella version of We Go Together
I remembered the 78 movie. I never looked at it as a depiction of the 50's but loosely based on the 50's. I mean not one minority come on. Well there was Cha Cha, "the best dancer at St. Bernadettes".😂 At my age, then, I accepted it and enjoyed the escapism and feel good vibe of the movie. I was surprised when nieces and nephews enjoyed the 78 movie in the 90s and early 2000s. Something is standing the test of time.
Absolutely, as much as I might criticize the '78 movie, it's really well-made.
Yeah, the movie wasn't too concerned with accurately depicting its time period. I love how the songs written for the stage show are deliberately reflecting 50s musical trends, while the movie-exclusive songs sound like 70s pop music.
This is so interesting! Thank for making this video
Thanks for watching it and taking the time to comment!
It was the new rise of the pink ladies. This has been an informative video to see how much this trend in grease affects their take on the esthetic and writing of the show.
can't wait to be nostalgic talking about covid-time
I loved the 1978 movie growing up in the 90s, but always took it as pure camp and never considered that there was an alternative reading. I was also familiar with the Broadway cast album, which may have influenced my overall conception of how the story was framed.
I remember eventually reading a Stephen King novel (I think it was Christine) from that era and thinking how unrelatable the narrator was in one scene when he criticizes the movie Grease as being fake and superficial. I wasn’t sure if the character was supposed to come across as dull and not getting it, or if it was the author himself pulling a poor example and writing a teenager shallowly
I think that new version shames the characters and ideas of the original. And that part w objectifying the female dancers while scrubbing the lyrics clean is so spot on.
My "history" with Grease is very short. It was rereleased into theatres when I was an early teen/kid (I honestly don't remember my exact age). I went with my mom and a friend. We left maybe half way through it. I have always heard how much a classic it was, but I didn't enjoy it AT ALL at the time. Perhaps I was too young to get it. In your comparison you mentioned the Wonder Years. That is one of my favorite shows. I also really love Mash (another show made about a time in the past). You make the original musical sound like something I would definitely be interested in. Is there an easy way to watch the original version?
As far as I know, there's no way to watch the original version, but you might want to try the movie version again as an adult. About 95% of the lines from the Broadway play are used, and most of the changes come from additional songs, jokes, and subplots.
I remember not enjoying the movie very much as a kid either, so I was really surprised how much I enjoyed it now. The humor is very much geared towards adults, the performances are all pretty fun, and it's shot in a really cinematic 2.39 : 1 aspect ratio.
I know from your channel that you've been watching Picard and Strange New Worlds. If you've got a Paramount+ subscription already, you should give it a shot.
@@ShawnBRyanVideos Well sounds like I have easy access to it, I guess I will give it another shot. Maybe I will finally understand some pop culture references I have been missing out on my entire life!
I would be pretty curious to discover if my impressions of what it is turn out to be completely off the mark. for that reason alone, it should prove to be a good experiment!
I do have paramount+. I kinda miss when it was CBS all access because I cancelled my subscription to them but they never cancelled my access to watch shows. I think they were pretty broken. haha
@@windgraceproject It's not a masterpiece, but it's a solid crowd pleaser. There's a reason it was the 5th highest grossing movie of the 1970s... but there's also it's not mentioned in the same company as the 4 movies that grossed more than it (Star Wars, Superman, The Godfather, and Jaws). If you're in the mood for a light musical, it's worth checking out.
@@ShawnBRyanVideos You always make solid defenses of things. I will give it a shot at some point when I have the time. For some reason, I have found myself watching "feature length" things less and less over time. I end up watching 2 episodes of an hour long TV show (or 4 of a half hour). I wonder what this phenomenon is?
@@windgraceproject Yeah, I get that and I'm guilty of it myself. I think part of it is how TV shows have act breaks every 7-ish minutes and keep you hooked, while movies (especially older ones) take more patience to get through.
Lol to this say I've never seen Grease.
When I was a ninth grader (like 07-08) I remember the teacher put this on for the class and I asked if I could sit outside cause I wasn't feeling it (I hated musicals/over the top singing as a kid) and the teacher actually let me
so I sat outside the classroom playing Pokemon Gold
LOL at the "pussy wagon" lyric. Nice historical context on the evolution of this play - really did get me reflecting on how art (and meaning) gets mutilated by a directors and script writers desire to appeal to "modern audiences". Even the nature of what was nostalgic in the 70s about the 50s had transformed in subsequent generations, infused with whatever modern interpretations the stylists decide. Interestingly enough, the movie Grease starred 70s icons which made it an odd cross-generational nostalgic movie in its own right. I have a feeling that if Andy Warhol were alive, he would love the calamity created by this play morphing into the kitch mess it has become.
I think Danny Zuko tends to fall into a trend in musicals of people trying to make the lead character too likeable/ relatable. Even in the og Broadway version which is already a cleaned up version from the Chicago version Barry Bostwicks Danny is far more obnoxious than John travolta’s in like a Jim Carrey like way.
Now I get the title. Thanks.
The sanitisation of older media creating historical & character innacuracies is still happening now.
Excellent piece 👏
When I was little I remember my dad had a VHS tape he had that was a recording of the original stage Musical it was Fuzzy and in a low-quality but I really loved that production then in 2007 my parents took me to see grease on Broadway and I loved it it was the Perfect Blend of the original Broadway version with songs from the movie although it was less raunchy than the original Broadway version if they ever make a remake I hope and pray that it sticks closer to the original Broadway version although I understand if they make it less raunchy... also in the 2007 Revival they also change the line from pussy wagon to draggin' wagon
Couldn't agree with you more.
Had no idea there was a musical play before the film. Thought the film came first
I was working as an usher when the national tour came around in the late 1990's. We had so many walk out of it, and wanting their money back. Unfortunately, one of the policies was that they couldn't get their money back because 15 minutes of the show had already passed. One patron had gotten so mad that she yelled at me, and the box office staff saying that it wasn't like the movie. I calmly said, "M'am, it took you 15 minutes to realize that? Besides, the musical play came out seven years before the movie. This version is much tamer than the original." Yeah, I shouldn't have said all that, but I swear she deserved it. 😉😇😆
I saw the movie first, but I knew there were differences between the two. Still, I was surprised to see how small the cast of the play was by comparison. I thought, "Where is everybody?" I guess that's the case with most stage vs. film versions, though.
I want to see the original now, sounds like it fixes all the issues I've always had with the movie. Soooo glad I never watched Grease Live, I will continue avoiding it like the plague.
Fantastic video!
i saw the original musical
it is a cynical look at the era
the movie is almost disneyfied
the movie version drops two songs.....alone at the drive in...which is turned into an instrumental and all choked up...which is where sandy becomes the assertive one and danny submissive
and it wasnt just the media that painted a different picture of life during that time
it was the educational films that kids were shown in school...the entire era was about "conformity"
If not for the complete lack of BBIMP in all versions, Grease was basically gentrified throughout the 70s and beyond wasn't it?
im reading justice league from the late 80s and am really surprised that even then, they had the same mentality of nowadays making fun of things everyone does even more now
EXCELLENT! By the way I attend the real GREASE school / TAFT from 1961-1965 just after the 'Grease Class of 1960" Might you add to you review? Did you watch the recent cable TV series: RISE OF THE PINK LADIES ? It had no relationaship to the Pink Ladies of TAFT!
Very interesting 👍
"You Americans" have such a funny, and concerning, relationship to sex! I'm Swedish so that's my cultural bias but it seems to me like American society has managed to land at both extremes when it comes to sex: everything is either sexual or sexualized but it's still very shameful and taboo. Obviously it makes less sense to me since I'm an outsider looking in but as an example, there's an abundance of scantily clad women in American media while schoolgirls get penalized for showing a bra strap and it's controversial to breastfeed in public. Like, you have sexual depictions in everyday media that even I find a bit scandalous but then manage to see something outrageous in what I think of as normal or at least mundane. I would've thought the media depictions would be desensitizing but nope!
One might come to the conclusion that it's all fine as long as it's in the context of a performance or something like that but then you get examples like in this video where the sexual lyrics were censored but the sexual dancing and clothes weren't. Is it a case of plausible deniability? Explicit lyrics are what they are but explicit dancing demands some imagination to be understood?
I hope I managed to convey my thoughts in a respectful way, I'm well aware all Americans don't think the same way and that you're not a cultural monolith. These are just my impressions and I'd love to hear someone else's thoughts on the subject!
I was 9 when I saw it at the cinema on its original release in Australia. I loved Happy Days and the soundtrack was huge on the radio so I nagged to see it. My parents had recently separated and this was amongst the first weekends my father had with me. I have no idea what he thought of the film, but I was returned to my mum with my hair permed and ears pierced just like Sandy. I don't think she was impressed.
Well “cream” in that context is a very dirty word I don’t want in any movie.
I remember in the 80s I went to see a touring company version of it in DC. It starred Jack Wagner from General Hospital as Danny. They did the original songs from the play and did not do any of the movie songs. I really enjoyed it even though it was different from the movie. Years later, I saw another touring version which started Rosie O’Donnell as Rizzo. I really did not like that version. It was too “out there”.
Smart, incisive commentary.
Did you watch the "Pink Ladies" limited series in 2023? What are your thoughts?
Can't we have both. God I hate this mentality where everybody thinks their version of a property should be the one and only one. It's like they can't be happy knowing a version of a play, movie, tv show, or record exists that they don't like.
The reason we "can't have both" is because the remakes never force the viewer to know the other version. It deletes the original. They never know it existed. That's the issue. It's like when people use a song sample, listeners know the new song but never listen to the song that inspired it.
@@BritneyBritney101 That is patently false. If anything it makes people aware of the existence of earlier/original property.
I'd never had known of the stage version of Grease if it hadn't been for the movie.
I honestly never liked Grease, well that is the movie of Grease. My theater is doing a production of the original stage play, and i had tried for months to connect with it, watching the movie, over and over again. But every time I watched it I was like, “this is complete bs.” So it was hard for me to get into it honestly. I wish I hadn’t gone in with the movie in my head, because holy shit the musical was so much better. It felt much less like some stupid cheesy love story and more like a real, raw version of being a teen. The stage play is so much better, in my opinion, and I will die on that hill.
I honestly love all the characters, and it’s made me actually feel strongly about the characters and the story.
10/10 would recommend over the movie
grease really is based off of the original writers experiences in highschool
"Phenomena" is plural. "Phenomenon" is singular.
Re: Greased Lightnin’-it’s a little more nuanced than just “this car will attract women”. The rise in popularity of cars among teens in the 50s and 60s was kind of a major cultural shift, and one of the reasons why courtship was definitively replaced with dating. It also gave teens access to one thing that wasn’t at all prevalent before-Privacy. Cars were a major contribution to the rise of teen subculture in general.
Or maybe I’m just over-thinking it because Grease is my current hyperfixation lol. But whether or not the song is referencing it, cars among teens in the 50s were A Big Deal™️
I larned a lot. Subscribed.
I wish we had footage of either original (Chicago and New York production) and the thirteen year old revival of the Chicago production to see. I grew up with the movie (jokes went over my head as kid) but I recently began to have a big appreciation for the original production when I read an analysis of the show from New Line Theatre Director Scott Miller. It made me realize how little I knew of the show. I even have an old copy of the original Broadway script before it got cleaned .
I couldn’t agree more less with your “ complaints” about the live TV version 😒
Hot take roast me lol. As bad as Grease 2/ cool rider is I would argue that it actually captures the grit and bite that the original goes for that is ruined by the over sanitization. Also a lot of the sanitization is bad. The current iteration of the script is the perfect example of the weird standards of censorship and the FCC and whoever runs Broadway standards. Like saying the F word a bunch of times is unacceptable but making a bunch of creepy jokes about the underage girls on the Mickey Mouse club that sexualizes them is fine.
The songs in grease are fun thats why grease is so well loved by every body
0:26 HELLO IM NOSTALGIA CRIRIC! I REMEMBER IT SO YOU DONT HAVE TO!!!!!!
TOP GROSSING MOVIE MUSIC FOR OVER 30 YEARS. GREAASE. PERIOD
America, where the market turns “rock n’ roll” rebellion into status symbols
Thanks, that was a very interesting commentary about Grease. To me the John Travolta and Olivia Newton John film is the best and every thing after that is inferior and not worth watching.. .Looking at the film now it's striking how none of the characters, who are meant to be school children, look anything like school children. It is sanitized by having adult actors singing songs with adult themes so we don't have to think too much about these characters being school children. Maybe if the actors had all been the age of the actual characters then the film would have been a whole lot more troubling and not as popular.
Shows that even a completely pointless movie could turn into a blockbuster.
There is nothing wrong with Stunt casting 😕
Stunt casting can be great 😁❤️
Oh, this video would work wonders in a class about post-modernism in cinema and musicals??? I loved it 😮 and Grease finally made sense for 10yo me. 😂 But i guess watching it with your mom saying that Rizzo is def the kind of girl who will die of a STD isnt the greatest way to frame that movie.... Also, i always thought SANDY'S NAME WAS SANDRA DEE! JESUS, THEY WEREN'T EXACTLY BULLYING HER THEN??? OH GOD. Movie did dirty to Rizzo 😮
It's pretty bad when you have to explain what nostalgia is to today's youth like they are toddlers😅
How did nostalgia ruin Grease...?
Way to ruin one of my favorite movies.
To be honest, we don't have the same culture in my country.
We do have an image for the 50s, 60s and other decades, but different from America. At least until the last few decades where our cultures are kind of merged.
That said, I wasn't aware of the original play and the others.
I just knew the movie and its love story.
As a musician I loved the music but (as it's the case today) I never payed attention to the lyrics or what they meant, and I also loved the love story.
In the end, I don't know how it will affect my enjoyment of the movie yet. I might check the plays before researching the movie to understand better your side.
Anyways, take my sub and leave me alone... For now.
Cheers from France! 🍻
You say destroy grease I say improved the original 😉
i love this guy calling out the 90s play for how dumb it is😂😂😂😂
That beard is throwing me off, man.
A little of the annoying puppet goes a long way.
Are you saying that the movie sucks?
As a gen zer I have lived through very little, but the fact that we keep rebooting and revamping shit really pisses me off..we don't need other version of shows and movies that we have already fell in love with. We don't need you to bring back movies from the 90s 80s 70s 50s we can watch the original and know that it will always be better than the remake with some exceptions, but not many. It fucking makes me sick that we can't have an original idea anymore, because it was already done and done better. We so badly what to rewrite the past knowing full well we can't.
TL;DR: LEAVE MOVIES AND TV SHOWS FROM THE PAST ALONE, THEY WERE BETTER BEFORE YOU FUCKED WITH THEM. AND WHO REALLY CARES IF THEY DON'T HOLD UP? I DON'T!
I think that's a really good point. I feel like studios somehow think that members of Gen Z won't sit through older movies and shows, and need to have them remade specifically for these younger audience members. As if folks in their twenties don't have the attention span to sit through a movie made in the 80s... it's more than a little insulting.
Meanwhile, I feel bad for members of Gen Z who aren't getting their own new franchises to fall in love with. Instead, they're getting hand-me-down from previous generations.
@@ShawnBRyanVideos exactly