Movie musical Grease turns 40 this summer
Believe it or not, the movie musical Grease turns 40 this summer.
It’s no exaggeration to say that it took the 1978 box office by storm. Indeed, the radio-ubiquitous title song caught the mood of the moment perfectly: Grease is the word.
Alas, the simple joys can never stay simple. In the fraught temper of our times, Grease’s enduring appeal now poses a conundrum for those disposed to view everything through an ideologically-tinted lens.
Grease originated as a 1971 Chicago stage production, written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Based on Jacobs’ own high school experience, the original has been described as a “raunchy, raw, aggressive, vulgar show.” Given that its subject matter deals with 1950s working-class teenagers and their grappling with adolescence, sex, romance and peer pressure, such a characterization shouldn’t come as a surprise.