Grease celebrates 40 years with fans still devoted to cult musical about the boys and girls of Rydell High
Based on a hit Broadway musical about the love affairs of 1950s high school students, Grease has been capturing the hearts of fans for four decades. Next month, the film’s stars are set to reunite in LA – tell me more, tell me more …
Four decades have passed since the Rydell High gang twisted, hand jived and crooned their way into the hearts of teenagers the world over – but we’re all still hopelessly devoted to Grease.
The classic musical, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, took film-goers back to their high school days with girl next door Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) and T-Bird bad-boy Danny (John Travolta).
“When we finished it, we really didn’t know what kind of impact it would have,” says filmmaker Randal Kleiser, who made his feature-length theatrical directing debut with Grease.
“We thought it would do well with teenagers for a summer or two, but never thought, 40 years later, [that we would still get] amazing responses from all over the world.”
Based on a hit Broadway musical about the love affairs of 1950s high school students, it was shot over two months in Los Anegles for US$6 million, and was initially ripped apart by many critics. But it ended up grossing almost US$400 million and was the most successful live-action movie musical of all time until Mamma Mia! 30 years later.