Grease

Adapting the Play Grease to Film

IN LATE 1976, after I signed on to direct the movie, producer Allan Carr organized a trip to Chicago to attend the road company production of the iconic stage musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. It had opened at the Kingston Mines Theatre Company in Chicago in 1971, then it moved to Off-Broadway in 1972, transferring to Broadway that same year, and it was still running strong.

Program cover from the original Chicago production of Grease, 1971

The original Grease team of Jim Jacobs (left) and Warren Casey (right)

Poster from the original Chicago production of Grease, 1971

Seeing it for the first time, I was most impressed by Tom Moore’s spirited direction and the play’s relevance to the high school experience. I began to envision how to adapt it to a movie. It was easy to imagine a movie version of “Summer Nights,” and the same for “We Go Together” and “Greased Lightnin’.” When the choreographer of the play was hired, I realized how critical it was to have Patricia Birch as my partner; she both understood the vision of the play and knew where all its beats, laughs, and highlights were.

The play was set in an urban Chicago and was raunchy, raw, and aggressive. Based on Jim Jacobs’s high school experience at William Taft High School, it was toned down for New York’s Broadway stage—and not to the total liking of Jacobs and Casey. Allan, one of the producers of the film, had a suburban Chicago background. He felt by further toning down the raunch and adjusting the script to a more West Coast feel, the characters would appeal to a wider audience. Plus we were shooting the movie in sunny Southern California.

Pat, although not thrilled with palm trees and convertibles, always thought the story would work in any venue or period. Teenagers have common problems—fitting in, being popular. In any high school you can find characters and teen relationships similar to those in Grease, which is why the original play works around the world in different cultures.

Choreographer Pat Birch on the set

Allan had brought in his friend Bronte Woodard to write the screenplay. Their concept was to make it funnier, and they wrote lines that were either campy or had a sitcom feeling that had nothing to do with the tone of the original play. I became worried when I read it, so much so that during rehearsals, the actors and I would read a scene from the adapted screenplay, and then read the same scene from the original play. The original play was tried-and-true and worked.

For the five weeks up to principal photography, we rehearsed the script and the musical numbers at Paramount Studios. In the mornings, Pat would choreograph the dancers while I worked on scenes with the actors in the afternoons. Several of the cast had been in the stage musical, so they were extremely familiar with their characters and knew exactly what lines and sight gags got great audience reaction. They helped us keep true to the spirit of the play and came up with bits.

Our casting director, Joel Thurm, was very familiar with the Chicago and Broadway stage productions and shared my concerns about the screenplay. Allan and Bronte would come in each day to hear how the rehearsals were going, and as long as they heard one or two of their lines, they seemed happy. During the shoot, Allan was rarely on the set and didn’t pay attention to the fact that we never shot many of the lines he and Bronte added. This book shows the shooting script and all the changes that were made to get back to the spirit of the original play.

We began the shoot on June 25, 1977, at Venice High School.

Screenplay adapters Allan Carr (left) and Bronte Woodard (right)