Grease goes woke: New TV reboot of 70s classic will explore ‘gender expression and racial identity’
The iconic 1970s film Grease is poised for a wake-up TV reboot, with the classical music set to center around a multicultural, all-female lineup to explore “sexual orientation, gender expression, and racial identity.”
Family favorite tunes will be re-sung alongside new musical numbers, including one about white supremacy, while the 1950s student population at Rydell High School will be repopulated with a diverse mix of LGBT and black high school students unseen in the hit from 1978.
Set in 1954, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies is a prequel to the original film and shows how the girl gang counterpart to Danny Zuko’s T-Birds was founded.
But the show’s characters have been given a Gen-Z facelift, including a non-binary tomboy who struggles to fit in alongside her multicultural bandmates.
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies will see a multicultural wake re-boot of the 1978 classic. Pictured from left to right: Marisa Davila as Jane Facciano, Tricia Fukuhara as Nancy Nakagawa, Ari Notartomaso as Cynthia Zdunowski, and Cheyenne Wells as Olivia Valdovinos
The new show takes place four years before the original Grease storyline, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
The story, which will be released on April 6, follows four main female characters as they each overcome obstacles on their way to forming their own musical quartet – but it is a far cry from the original classic.
Featuring all-new cast members who don’t cross over with the original, the plot takes place four years earlier than when John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John first serenaded the masses.
Some scenes echo the original – including the iconic auto shop dance this time led by the gender non-conforming non-binary trans character Cynthia, played by Ari Notartomaso.
“Queerness, gender nonconformity and transness throughout time haven’t always been exactly the same,” Notartomaso said, noting that their character, who initially wanted to join the all-male T-Birds, may have had the same on-screen identification .
“We’re all a product of the culture we live in, but it’s very special to be able to tell that story of what it might have looked like in the 1950s.”
When half-Latin, half-Italian Jane, played by Marisa Davila, falls victim to vicious high school gossip, she decides to run for class president and assembles a group of misfits – not to mention her younger sister Frenchy , which the public will follow. least recognizing the 1978 hit.
She is joined in her breakout role by Cheyenne Wells, who plays Mexican-American student Olivia who struggles with an alleged affair with her adult English teacher, and Tricia Fukuhara as Nancy, a Japanese American who finds her place in high school.
The show will show how Grease’s all-female quartet ‘The Pink Ladies’ started their group at Rydell High School
Cheyenne Wells’ character Olivia, left, reportedly struggles over rumors of an affair with her adult English teacher
All new musical numbers, including one about white supremacy, are performed alongside many of the classics from the original film
The movie’s famous sleepover scene has been re-hashed with the prequal’s all-new cast members
The first episode of the prequel show will be available for streaming on April 6
In the third installment of the series, the plot will reportedly attempt to address discrimination within the Rydell High community.
The episode revolves around the stories of a shy black girl named Hazel and Davila’s Latina character Jane, and features a musical number called “In The Club” in which founders of wealthy white country clubs are animated from an oil painting to sing about white supremacy.
The new song included in Grease’s storyline reportedly features the lyrics, “When you’re in the club, we’ve got each other’s backs.” As long as you’re not Jewish, Asian, brown or black, single woman or gay, on the wrong side of them.’
The reboot aims to address several other culture war issues through the lens of Grease’s 1950s background, including sexual orientation portrayed by the oddball character Cynthia.
And when Jane is the victim of a high school rumor mill started by actress Madison Thompson’s character Susan, Thompson said her motivation stemmed from ’50s patriarchy.
“She has a lot to learn from the Pink Ladies and the change they’re bringing to Rydell,” Thompson added.
Decades after John Travolta made headlines in his famous role as Danny Zuko, he’s been replaced somewhat in a similar character played by Jason Schmidt as the show’s “grease machine.”
John Travolta made headlines in his famous role as Danny Zuko, who has been somewhat replaced in a similar character played by Jason Schmidt
The show shows how the two Grease student bands, the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies, came about
The iconic hit musical is getting a Gen Z facelift, but the new prequel series has already been met with scathing reviews
The new “Pink Ladies” are all remarkably multicultural, with Jane being half Puerto Rican, Olivia being Mexican American, Nancy being Japanese American, and Cynthia being queer and non-binary.
Early reviews weren’t kind to the wake reboot, with the Guardian dubbed ‘The Prequel No One Asked For’.
The outlet said the show’s potential qualities are dwarfed by “substandard music tracks and standard streaming TV bloat.”
There’s way too powerful choreography, some hair-raising and undercooked imaginary sequences, and several forgettable songs per episode
“Pink Ladies is such a mighty quagmire of bad ideas it’s hard to keep it all straight,” added a scathing review from USA today.
“Despite each episode being overcrowded with characters, bad music tracks and prosaic dialogue, the series completely lacks substance behind all the over-the-top style,” it continued.
The songs are forgettable, clunky and lack a thematic connection to the story. The young dancers are good at their craft, but the staging and choreography are so chaotic that it’s impossible to concentrate while watching the dazzling spectacle.’
TV writer and reboot showrunner Annabel Oakes admitted she initially turned down the show because she thought it would be a “sad money grab”
Non-binary actor Ari Notartomaso, left, is joined in the reboot by (LR) Cheyenne Isabel Wells, Marisa Davila, and Tricia Fukuhara
Even the show’s lead director, TV writer and showrunner Annabel Oakes, admitted that her initial thoughts about rehashing the iconic film were simple, “No!”
She told The Daily Beast, “All I knew was that the studio wanted to do some kind of reboot of Grease, and I wasn’t on board.
“I said, ‘Fat? No! Fat is perfect.” And I really meant it. For example, I didn’t want to be a part of this. I was like, “What a sick, sad money grab from a big studio exploiting their IP.”