Review: Grease: The Sing-A-Long

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The 1978 hit movie musical Grease has been re-fashioned into Grease: The Sing-A-Long and is back in theaters for limited-run engagements, here in town at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar starting July 8.

The musical -- which once held the honor of longest running show on Broadway -- was turned into a movie seven years after it premiered onstage. The 1978 film is back on the big screens with the addition of lyric subtitles, hoping to find a new audience and bring out fans looking for some nostalgia and a young Travolta. It's the same movie: Rebellious Danny (John Travolta), straightlaced Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) and their friends grappling with love and lust in Rydell High School's class of 1959, with an often clever mix of nostalgia and sharp wit that shows happy days weren't always so happy and innocent.

If you aren't familiar with the story, Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson have had an idyllic summer romance far from Rydell High. Only when school starts, Sandy's there too, sending both partners into a tailspin and trying to win each other back over. Not helping matters is the brassy Rizzo (Stockard Channing), the biggest rebel of the bunch, who constantly stirs things up even as she falls for Kenickie (Jeff Conaway, who played Danny in the Broadway production). 

The rest of the cast may not be familiar to those who didn't see the film when it first screened, but it's full of Hollywood and TV legends, including Sid Caesar, Eve Arden, Joan Blondell and Dody Goodman, with the rock and roll legends Sha-Na-Na renamed as Johnny Casino & The Gamblers and Frankie Avalon as Teen Angel. For those paying attention to current films, Jamie Donnelly, who plays one of the Pink Ladies (Jan), can currently be seen in the Duplass brothers' new film Cyrus (as the Pastor).  

The new version includes colorful lyric subtitles that get highlighted in various ways similar to Karaoke screens. Only in Grease: The Sing-A-Long, it's either sliding color changes, or a helpful animated character like a hot dog or popsicle. In some of the songs, particularly "Sandy" and Rizzo's lament, "There are Worse Things I Could Do," the animation gets even more colorful and entertaining. The big dance number "Hand Jive" even has hands demonstrating exactly how to do the motions. 

Controversy over censorship has proven to be unfounded. Paramount did not edit the lyrics to make what was an edgy musical more "family friendly." However, the subtitles get clever by replacing potentially offensive words with animated representations that fool no one, but would easily keep the MPAA from giving it a restrictive rating. And how did they do that, you ask? Well, one such animation is a cat. 

If you didn't like Grease to begin with, there's nothing to change your opinion here. But there is one major flaw with this version: the film has physically not held up well. While the first few minutes are crisp, in some scenes the image quality is so poor it seems like a bad VHS transfer. Apparently the studio couldn't -- or wouldn't -- restore the film itself even when adding colorful lyrics and playful animations to help people sing along.

Still, Grease: The Sing-A-Long is a lot of fun, and the audience at the Alamo South Lamar preview had a lot of fun with it -- not only singing along, but many dressing up for the occasion -- and sometimes watching the audience was half the fun. "Greased Lightning" was clearly the favorite song, with many hands flying into the air right along with the T-Birds. Our recommendation: arrive early, have a few beers, and get into the spirit of Grease: The Sing-A-Long.

[Jette would like to sadly note that at the time this is published, all screenings of Grease: The Sing-A-Long at Alamo South Lamar are completely sold out. Hopefully they'll extend the run so those of us who are procrastinators can get a chance to see it.]