It's Greased Lightning, baby!
Fox has given the thumbs up for a three-hour production of the musical, "Grease Live," based on the 1971 Broadway show-turned-film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The network announced Monday that the musical will debut in 2015. Fox's musical side, a production of Paramount Television, has not announced which actors will take part of the production.
"From Broadway to film, and across generations, Grease is one of the most beloved musical stories ever told - and we can't wait to bring it to our air in a spectacular live event," Shana C. Waterman, Senior Vice President of Event Series for Fox, said. "Its iconic characters and addictive songs make it the perfect fit for Fox, and we're going to give it the kind of star power and production quality to make every Sandy, Danny, Rizzo and Kenickie out there want to get up and sing along."
A young cast will reintroduce viewers to the characters and songs from "Grease.". The musical will feature classic tunes including "Summer Nights," "Greased Lightnin','" "We Go Together," and "You're The One that I Want".
The film has grossed nearly $400 million worldwide, ranking as the highest-grossing movie musical ever.
Paramount TV's president Amy Powell added, "It's incredibly exciting to have one of our first major network productions be based on this universally celebrated Paramount title, and we're thrilled to be partnering with Kevin, Joe and Shana on this epic television event. Fox's passion for engaging audiences with bold storytelling and live musical formats make it a perfect home for this special broadcast."
This week's news follows the smash success of NBC's "Sound of Music Live!" starring country singer Carrie Underwood and "True Blood" actor Stephen Moyer. The show premiered last December and raked in 18.5 million viewers, along with a whopping 5.6 rating among adults 18-49 year old.
"Grease" was in the running to be the second live musical aired on NBC, but the network instead went with "Peter Pan," which will air live on December 4, 2014 with a to-be-announced cast.
"We had so much doing a big musical that the family could watch over the holidays, so we're going to do it again," NBC boss Bob Greenblatt said, about "Peter Pan" the musical. "Get ready for flying children and some start-of-the-art technology for Tinkerbell."
Are you excited to see Fox's Grease Live? Who do you think should play Danny and Sandy?
