Collectively playing the role of "Teen Angel," the R&B trio perform the paean to staying in high school, "Beauty School Dropout." The role was played by singer Frankie Avalon in the film version of the Broadway musical, which pays homage to pop culture of the 1950s.
Boyz II Men has never played on Broadway, but the group did record the Elton John song "Not Me" from the score of his musical Aida, which was released as a single before the show opened.
The high school-set Grease: Live will feature a live audience who will participate in the performance, according to director Thomas Kail and set designer David Korins, the duo behind Hamilton.
Casting a trio as the angel is only one of several changes they are making in the show. Korins and Kail said that for specific scenes — like the dance in the gymnasium, out front of Rydell High and during the pep rally — real audience members would populate the theatrical world of Grease and be able to "give back" during the performance. "It’s a four-wall set, so there’s a 360 degree opportunity for us to explore where they will function both as an audience and also as the people that would be populating the outside of a dance," said Kail, adding that they will be visible on screen for the viewing audience watching the broadcast.
As previously reported, the cast for Grease: Live will be led by Julianne Hough as Sandy, Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko, Andrew Call as Sonny, David Del Rio as Putzie, Kether Donohue as Jan, Jordan Fisher as Doody, Ana Gasteyer as Principal, Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo, Carly Rae Jepsen as Frenchie, Mario Lopez as Vince Fontaine, Carlos PenaVega as Kenickie, Eve Plumb as Mrs. Murdock and KeKe Palmer as Marty. The creative team for the live musical, which is executive-produced by Marc Platt, also includes award-winning theatre vets Tom Kitt (music supervision) and William Ivey Long (costume design).
Watch a promotional trailer for the TV presentation below:
Broadway writers Robert Cary and Jonathan Tolins are writing the television adaptation based on the original musical Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, and Paramount Pictures’ 1978 feature adaptation.
