"Access Hollywood" co-anchor Billy Bush and U.K. television and theatre star Denise Van Outen will host the show, which will kick off with two 1.5-hour shows (on Jan. 7 and 14) before continuing on Sunday nights in an hour-long format. Check your local listings.
Bush is a co-anchor for the daily entertainment newsmagazine show "Access Hollywood," and London stage star Van Outen has played in Chicago.
BBC Worldwide Productions teams with NBC for the mid-season show in which America will decide the two leads for the new Broadway show.
Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall (The Pajama Game) will direct and choreograph the new Broadway production as well as judge the competition — along with Grease co-creator Jim Jacobs and theatre producer David Ian.
Paul Nicholas and David Ian Associates, Nederlander Presentations and Phoenix Productions will produce the Broadway run of the show, which begins rehearsals on or about April 1, 2007. The musical Grease — by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey — debuted on Broadway Feb. 14, 1972 and captured the spirit of audiences with its the 1950's-set all-American lovestory of two teens from opposite sides of the fence who fall in love one summer only to discover each other again, this time attending Rydell High School. Will the "bad boy" and the "good girl" be able to rekindle their romance amid the politics of high school?
In 1978, Grease became "the word" with a popular feature-film adaptation starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as the lovelorn leads. A Broadway revival played as recently as 1994-1998.
The new Broadway production will feature the smash Jacobs-Casey songs made famous by the original play including "Summer Nights," "Greased Lightning" and "We Go Together" as well as the four additional film songs "Grease is the Word," "You're the One That I Want," "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Sandy" interpolated into the score.
Tickets for Grease will go on sale Dec. 1, 2006. Group sales are available now by calling Nederlander Group Sales at (212) 840-3890.
The NBC official website for the show can be found at nbc.com/Grease.
