Literary toast to 50th anniversary of John Travolta-starrer show 'Grease'

On Valentine’s Day 1972, a musical opened off-Broadway needing a lot of love. It was $20,000 in debt and the rev­iews were mixed to poor. A decision had to be made: Keep going or give it the kiss off?

The choice to continue was a risky but fateful one, not only for the investors but also for the actors who would subsequently use it as a career in­cubator, including John Trav­olta, Richard Gere, Pat­rick Swayze, Treat Williams, Mari­lu Henner, Peter Galla­gher, Alan Paul, Judy Kaye and Barry Bostwick.

That show was Grease, a tale of teen angst and true love set in the mid-1950s. It would go on to transf­er to Broadway for a then-record eight-year run, spawning several touring companies and a celebrated film. Not many know that it was almost stillborn.

“People think that Grease was born a blockbuster. Grease was born anything but blockbuster. If there’s any metaphor that works for this show, it's ‘The Little Engine That Could’,” says Tom Moore, the show’s director.

The story of the show’s ro­cky beginnings into a pop culture juggernaut is told in the new oral history book Gre­a­se: Tell Me More, Tell Me More, culled from stories submitted by some 100 cast and crew and edited by Moore, Grease veteran Adrienne Barbeau and producer Ken Waissman.

The book includes the beh­ind-the-scenes hookups, the accidents — broken ank­les were a risk — life on the road, the time Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor stopped by to enchant the cast, their encounter with Lib­erace, performing the show with flashlights during the 1977 New York blackout and the day it closed on Broadway in 1980, complete with dozens of great photos. The book is out on Tu­e­sday, the 50th ann­iversary of Grease opening on Broadway.