NBC’s Grinch Musical REVIEW
CMA Country Christmas Review
“Minions Holiday Special” Review
“Alex Trebek: Remembered” Review
Live: A “Grease” exclusive TV review
It was a performance unlike any other and at moments, it felt like the audience was watching John Travolta, Stockard Channing or Olivia Newton John in the original Grease movie, but there were some elements that told of the times, such as riding back and forth in golf carts and of course the use of cellphones in the opening credits. There was also where Sandy was from, Salt Lake City, Utah as opposed to Australia, which was different, but it wasn’t that much of a problem to distract from the performance.
That being said, Grease Live, airing on Fox on January 31, 2016 was an exceptional 3 hour performance that had audiences both live and on the east and west coasts, cheering and singing along to the familiar hit songs by an entirely new generation for an equally new generation.
Grease live stars include Julianne Hough as Sandy, and the pink ladies, Vanessa Hudgens, as Rizzo, Keke Palmer as Marty, Carly Rae Jepsen as Frenchy, and Kether Donahue as Jan. The T-Birds were played by Carlos PenaVega as Kenickie, Jordan Fisher as Doody, David Del Rio as Putzie, Andrew Call as Sonny and Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko.
One familiar from both the original Grease as well as Grease 2, Didi Conn came back as Vi, the waitress in the diner who helps “Frenchy” find her way back. Also another familiar face, Eve Plumb from The Brady Bunch series, played Mrs. Murdock which was a good selection for the role.
There were also special guest singers including R&B group Boys to Men performing, Beauty School Drop out, pop super star Jessie J opened with Grease is the Word and Mario Lopez both hosted the performance as well as “Bandstand”.
Overall, every solo performance was exceptional, like watching the original. Audiences in particular, awaited the iconic song sung by Stockard Channing in the original and they were not disappointed. Vanessa Hudgens, in spite of her recent loss of her father to cancer, hit every note of “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” and Twitter went crazy as audiences were encouraged to comment with the hash tag #gogrease throughout the live performance. It was clear that all the actors, studied their counterparts in order to channel and perform to do justice and pay homage to the original Grease that came out June 16, 1978.
For more information including when the soundtrack and DVD will be released go to Fox’ homepage.
A Classic Made New: TV Movie Review
On December 4, 2014, over fifty years after the original Peter Pan aired on NBC, actress Allison Williams brings the beloved character to life. Peter Pan Live was a 3 hour television movie that premiered on NBC-4 at 8 o’clock. Actor Christopher Walken played the villainous Captain Hook and despite a few problems with the lines, he gave it his all and delighted the television audience.
There were mix reviews that flooded the social media outlet all night as fans praised Williams performance as she paid homage to the original starring Marry Martin. In an television interview, she said, it was a dream come true to play such an important role. With music, including a tap dancing routine by Walken, it did the broadway play justice to the very end. It’s a musical that is highly recommended for those who love the classic story of Peter Pan, though there are a few changes and added numbers. For those with an open mind, it won’t fail.
Peter Pan LIVE will be available for purchase on December 16, 2014.
Reliving Great TV
Lately, I’ve been obsessed with specific TV shows like
Castle. I just got the third season and am catching up with al of them .
Of course, I also live for shows like Boy Meets World, Sabrina, and even Charles ‘N Charge and Reba. And my all time favorite being, Full House.
TV is great, there as so many great shows, like Lost, Desperate Housewives and an all new Body of Proof, but if you don’t relive them at some point, then what can you do?
Movies are great, but TV builds suspense. Movies never change, great TV grows and creates more suspense.