Reality TV's Grease opens on Broadway
The latest revival of Grease, whose leads were chosen by audience vote on NBC's Grease: You're The One That I Want back in March, faced the critics last night at the prestigious Brooks Atkinson Theatre.
And those New York critics, who once could close a show with the tap of a typewriter key, had the big knives out. Already contemptuous of television and movie stars wedging themselves into Broadway shows to get the tourist dollar in the first place, what would you expect them to think of a show starring amateurs?
The New York Times: The effect is rather like one of those makeover shows in which everyday people are dressed and groomed to resemble red-carpet regulars and wind up looking like game but uneasy impostors...
The New York Post: This crass musical makes Legally Blonde seem like West Side Story... This is where the TV show hits the Broadway fan...
The New York Daily News: Americans may know how to choose pop singers, stand-up comics and ballroom dancers, but they have much to learn about picking Broadway stars... Part reality TV, Broadway revival and marketing gimmick... it all adds up to 2 1/4 hours of likable but lackluster entertainment...
Max Crumm won the role of the rebel Danny Zuko and Laura Osnes was selected to play goody-two-shoes Sandy Dumbroski by you-- us, the folks who might visit New York City and take in a Broadway show. What do the esteemed theatre critics think of our choices?
Oy. Read for yourself... after the jump...
Continue reading "Grease: You're the One That I Want: Reality TV's Grease opens on Broadway" »
Um, spoiler alert for the above picture. So I gotta take back everything I said last week about not caring who won or lost, because I was really anxious (at points) during Sunday's finale. Of course, it was an hour long for no reason other than to fit in more video montages which I could have done without, but I'm happy with the outcome, so I can't complain too much.
Tonight's episode perfectly embodied what this whole Grease experience has been about. The final four Dannys and Sandys performed for AMERICA's votes. They each sang half a song from Grease and half of two pop songs. We saw dancing in a group number and didn't see any acting. We measured chemistry by looking at the Dannys and Sandys side by side. And now we have to judge who should go into Grease on Broadway. Is it any wonder this is going to be a train wreck when these few weeks of pop performances are what we have to judge these people hand-picked by the judges?
