On January 31st, 2016, Fox did a live airing of a production of the fan favorite musical "Grease." This rendition of "Grease" was created by the production company Paramount Television and featured Vanessa Hudgens, Aaron Tveit, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Keke Palmer as its top billed actors (and actresses!). General feedback from this event seem to be good, with the new cast managing to continue with the beloved charm and overall goofiness of a beloved production.
As soon as it was announced that Fox was planning on doing this event, many people, theater and non-theater folk alike, flocked to the internet to compare Fox's attempt to do live theater events with NBC's attempts to bring theater to a general audience. NBC has, in recent years, attempted this with three different live events: "Peter Pan," "The Sound of Music," and most recently, "The Wiz." While others on the internet may desire to add fuel to the fire by trying to argue as to which one is better or as to what publishing company is capable of doing a greater job, I am just happy that studios are attempting to do this in general.
With the usual high cost of attending Broadway productions and the distance it takes to even go see a production, it is kind of hard for people to see these types of shows. This is why I appreciate people trying to broadcast beloved musicals into the living-rooms of Americans throughout the country. While I understand the main reason these companies are doing this (money), I can also see that these events help spread awareness to people who might not ever be able to experience theater anywhere else. At this point its mostly been live adaptations of musicals, I would love to see a studio try to bring more traditional styles of theater to a general audience.
The creation of ABC's "Galavant," a musical comedy series that takes place in medieval times, also feels like it was created to attempt to bring Broadway musicals into people's living rooms, except kind of compressed down into 22 minute episodes. The series has a "Spamalot" feel to it, which is never a bad thing, and does a really good job at combining the charm of episodic television and musical theater. The series so far has met really good reception from critics and casual viewers alike, and the introduction of a 2nd season shows that this is the type of show people are interested in. I'm not sure if this trend of entertainment will continue, or eventually go the way of the dodo, but I feel like it is currently going in the right direction.
