Grease

The Sing-Alongs

AROUND 1998 I saw that the New Beverly Cinema revival theater in West Hollywood was having a midnight screening of Grease. I called up Olivia and Didi and asked if they wanted to see how the movie held up with a midnight crowd. We waited until the movie was about to start and then sneaked into the back and sat in the last row. As we looked around, we noticed that most of the audience were dressed in fifties attire. The lights dimmed and then, when the first song began, the entire audience began enthusiastically singing along. We were even more amazed when they recited, word for word, the dialogue along with the movie. It felt like my college days, watching midnight screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

As the credits rolled, the audience cheered wildly. The lights came up, and Didi and Olivia pulled their hats lower to disguise themselves as the audience filed out. We thought no one had noticed them. But when we emerged, we saw the whole audience gathered under the marquee on the sidewalk. The crowd gave a big round of applause and began singing “We Go Together.” Touched, Didi and Olivia brushed away tears welling in their eyes. This was the first time we realized how popular the movie still was.

Word got around that midnight showings and film festival screenings of Grease were attracting crowds. I asked interns in my office to create a PowerPoint file that could project the lyrics on the screen during these showings. We sent this—with some helpful tips to feature local talent—to the festivals. Festival organizers could then recruit a volunteer who knew the movie well and assign them to push the space bar at the right time to move to the next lyric. Low-tech but effective, and more and more festivals began holding these sing-alongs.

LEFT: These are tips I sent to organizers of the early sing-along screenings using PowerPoint projection of lyrics. • RIGHT: The Hollywood Bowl was the site of the first “official” Grease sing-along, in 2010, but for years fans had already sung along to the lyrics during midnight screenings and festivals.

My college roommate, George Lucas, called the head of Paramount and recommended rereleasing our movie. He said every nine-year-old girl in the country was watching the video every day. Inspired by this recommendation and energized by the popularity of the screenings, Paramount executives hired a graphics facility to create an official sing-along print, with bouncing balls and cartoon images animating the lyrics. This version premiered at the Hollywood Bowl, where the crowd teemed with ponytailed, poodle-skirted women and leather-jacketed tough guys with pomaded hair. Grease goodie bags were handed out, which included bubble-gum cigarettes, glow sticks, and party poppers. Didi conducted a costume contest and introduced me and some of the other cast. The movie started and at Danny and Sandy’s first kiss, a chorus of party poppers exploded. During “Beauty School Dropout” thousands of viewers blew bubbles that floated above the crowd, and every song was roared out by the many voices. The Grease sing-along was perhaps the celebration that has most matched the energetic innocent fun of the movie. Standing on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl in front of seventeen thousand cheering fans, all dressed in costumes from our movie, was an experience I’ll never forget.

ABOVE: Grease sing-along at the Santa Monica Pier, 2006

The Hollywood Bowl, 2010

DIDI: People tell me, “You sound so familiar. Do I know you?” And usually the kid will tell the parent, “Oh, she’s Frenchy from Grease.” It’s my voice that does it. And then everybody gets so happy. They just want to hug me. I think because Frenchy was such a good friend to Sandy. Honestly, it’s very nice, Randal.

RANDAL: What was it like for you the first time you went on the Hollywood Bowl stage?

DIDI: Seventeen thousand people! I was nervous before I went on, but then I said, “A wop-bop-a-loo-bop,” and they answered, “A-wop-bam-boooom.” And I went, “Wow. Holy shit.”