Today's Entertainment

January 31, 2016

The Goshen News - Today's Entertainment

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February 1 - 7, 2016 Page 3 ACROSS 1. Series for Jaimie Alexander 8. One of John-Boy's sisters 9. John or Deborah 10. Role on "Blue Bloods" (2) 14. Peel 15. Wally Cleaver's portrayer 16. "Much __ About Nothing" 17. Relinquish 18. Word in the title of Scott Bakula's current series 19. NBA or AMA 20. "Welcome __, Kotter" 24. "Mad Men" network 27. Actor Morales 28. "Go team!" 29. Actor Hunter 32. "__ __ Apart"; 2003 Vin Diesel movie 33. Actor on "Madam Secretary" (2) 36. First name in tennis 37. Bullring cries 38. Role on "Chicago PD" (2) DOWN 1. Marks one's cattle 2. Actor Hal 3. Hampton or Holiday 4. Distort 5. Tiny vegetable 6. Liver or pancreas 7. "World __ Center"; 2006 Nicolas Cage film 8. Adams and Falco 11. Linear measure: abbr. 12. Rosie's initials 13. "__ and Again" (1999- 2000) 14. TV maker, once 20. Snoopy, for one 21. __ __ as a lamb 22. James and Scott 23. Relatives 24. "__ You There, Chelsea?" 25. Actress Bello 26. Chef Julia 29. "Killing __ Softly"; 2012 Brad Pitt movie 30. CD forerunners 31. "Who Wants to __ a Millionaire" 34. U.S. intelligence agency 35. Actress Russell, to friends Solution on page 2. CoverStory By John Crook © Zap2it Fox is hoping to fend off winter ratings chill with some sexy "Sum- mer Nights" as the net- work turns over its en- tire Sunday prime time block to "Grease: Live," a new production of the fifties-style hit Broad- way musical premiering Sunday, Jan. 31. In roles made fa- mous by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in a blockbuster 1978 film adaptation of the show, Aaron Tveit ("Graceland") and Juli- anne Hough ("Dancing With the Stars") lead the cast as Rydell High School lovers Dan- ny Zuko and Sandy Dumbrowski. Vanessa Hudgens, who knows a thing or two about high school musicals, is bad girl Betty Rizzo, and the cast also includes Car- ly Ray Jepsen, Keke Palmer, Carlos Pe- naVega, Mario Lopez, Ana Gasteyer and Eve Plumb. Tveit, 32, says play- ing his iconic role feels a bit unreal. "I think 'Grease' is really the first musical that I was aware of in my life, even before I knew what a musical was," he says. "I re- member watching it as a little kid, 6 or 7 years old. It's so woven into our cultural Zeitgeist that I knew of it even before I understood what it was to be in a play. "When we started rehearsing and moving around for 'Summer Nights' and 'You're the One That I Want,' those are the kind of moments where part of you stops and thinks, 'Wow, I'm really doing this now!' Stepping back and watching yourself perform them is kind of surreal." Unlike NBC's live musical productions, most recently Decem- ber's "The Wiz Live!," this Fox special will be performed in front of an audience, a decision that was a no-brainer, director Thomas Kail says. "It just always felt like the nature of this show's rhythms, and musical comedy in general, necessitated having an audience," explains Kail, who earned a Tony Award nomination for directing the Broadway hit "In the Heights." "We wanted to feel the energy boost from the 'conversation' that happens between an audience member and a performer, and to let the audience at home participate in that." "Grease: Live" bor- rows from both the movie and the original stage musical, he adds. "Our script takes a lot of inspiration from the spine of the mov- ie, from the love story of Danny and Sandy, which was more cen- tral in the film than it is on stage," he says. "We also took some moments and songs from the stage play that weren't in the film. We really wanted to ... make our own 'Grease' that will honor and stand up to both of those and also be the first 'Grease' that many people will see." Tveit, whose Broad- way credits include "Hairspray" and "Wick- ed," says he feels lucky to be working at a time when TV musicals are back in favor. "It's something an en- tire family can sit down and watch together," he says. "I'm so grateful ... the musical form isn't looked down on like it was for a time." "Grease: Live" premieres Sunday on Fox. Fox goes back to Rydell High for 'Grease: Live' Solution on page 2

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