"Grease" Gets Real
Are you the one that they want?
NBC announced Tuesday that it is partnering with BBC Worldwide Productions to air a midseason reality series in which Broadway hopefuls compete for the two lead roles in a new production of Grease that's headed for the Great White Way next June.
You're the One That We Want will follow the model of the British show How Do I Solve a Problem Like Maria?, which is currently searching for a bright-eyed newbie to slip into Maria von Trapp's shoes for Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End revival of The Sound of Music (now that Scarlett Johansson has exited stage left).
Grease debuted on Broadway in 1972 and was nominated for seven Tonys, but it's the 1978 film starring a super-skinny John Travolta as bad boy Danny and Olivia Newton-John as Sandy, the goody two-shoes who loves him, that really made Grease the word.
"Americans have grown up with these catchy tunes and appealing characters, and we think they'll love the chance to select the next dynamic duo to play Sandy and Danny," Craig Plestis, senior VP of alternative programs and development at NBC Universal, said in a statement.
Jim Jacobs, Grease's co-creator, will perform judging duties along with director-choreographer Kathleen Marshall, who just scored a Tony for her work on The Pajama Game and will helm the Grease revival, and How Do you Solve a Problem Like Maria? producer David Ian, who was recently named the "most powerful person in British theatre" by the newspaper The Stage.
NBC, a network definitely familiar with the reality ropes, is also home to summer ratings winner America's Got Talent, Last Comic Standing, The Apprentice, Fear Factor and Treasure Hunters.
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