Re[tro]view
April 26 2026
GREASE 2
‘Why Grease 2 Is The Word That Has Groove and More Meaning’.
That title is a mouthful, but I’m making a statement.
Disclosure: although the original movie resides in our collection, I have never been a fan. Separately, neither has Lee but when I introduced him to GREASE 2, one of my favourite movies ever, he loved it and we both agree on the reasons why it ‘failed’ by Hollywood’s expectations / machinations.
We talk about why GREASE 2 is a better movie than the original, and why we believe it didn’t perform well. Hint. The boy is the “Sandy” of this one…
For movie fans, this is Selena Kyle –post transformation– in high school.
PS: I wrongly say “1984” in the episode. I was 11, not 13, when I saw GREASE 2. Also, I burst into song every now and then.
LISTEN: [24:46mins]
“Grease 2 is a 1982 American musical romantic comedy film and a standalone sequel to the 1978 film Grease, adapted from the 1971 musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey.
Originally titled More Grease, the film was produced by Allan Carr and Robert Stigwood, and directed and choreographed by Patricia Birch, who choreographed the original stage production and prior film. [more info below]
The film was released in United States theaters on June 11, 1982 by Paramount Pictures, and grossed $15 million against a production budget of $11 million, a far cry from its predecessor’s $132 million domestic box office.
The plot returns to Rydell High School two years after the original film’s graduation, with a largely new cast, led by Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer in her first starring role.
Despite breakthrough roles for Pfeiffer, Adrian Zmed, and Christopher McDonald, the film received mostly mixed to negative reviews from critics; however, Grease 2 maintains a devoted fan base decades after its release. The film is now regarded as a cult classic.” – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FURTHER READING
1. Michelle Pfeiffer talking about Grease 2
“The last phase of the audition was the dancing part. It literally was like you see in the movies where one line would come and they would dance across the stage and then the next line would come and they would dance across the stage,” the three-time Oscar nominee recounted.
“I kept moving further to the back, so I ended up in the very last line and stumbled my way through because I couldn’t remember the choreography.”
She thought it had been a disaster. “I left with my tail between my legs, feeling so humiliated,” Pfeiffer said. “And somebody’s assistant, I think it was [director] Pat Birch’s assistant, ran after me across the Paramount studio lot.
I said something about being really embarrassed and she said, ‘Well, you shouldn’t be because she wants you to come back tomorrow.”
– read more at ET
– read more at ET
2. ‘Michelle Pfeiffer explains:
“I had zero expectations of landing this part,” Pfeiffer said. “My agent sent me on it, honestly, I think, just for the experience. It was such a cattle call, there were actors and dancers and singers everywhere hanging out, coming in and out auditioning, and there were very thin walls. All the other actors waiting to go in could hear your reading, could hear your singing. I was not a singer.
I was taking voice classes to really improve my stage voice at the recommendation of my acting coach. And I certainly was not a dancer.”
“I was very uncomfortable because there was a tremendous amount of hype around it.
And both Maxwell [Caulfield] and I were both unknowns. There was a lot of marketing that was centered around us,” she recalled.”– read more at Entertainment Tonight
3. Director /Choreographer / Dancer, Patrich Birch:
“Born in 1934 in New Jersey, Patricia Birch began her creative career as a dancer on Broadway, featuring in seminal productions of classic musicals […]
The supremely talented Birch eventually went on to choreograph major productions like Candide, Zoot Suit, Raggedy Ann, West Side Story, A Little Night Music and Grease. Acclaimed and successful, Birch’s talents were recognised by the film industry, […]
Outside of her work on the Broadway adaptations, Birch has also created some extraordinary pure cinema too,
– staging the debauched bacchanal of 1975’s The Wild Party[RETROVIEW COMING SOON]
– Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia’s famously charming keyboard dance in 1988’s Big[watch here]
– the stylised throwback sequences on 1996’s The First Wives Club[watch here]
[more]
The most dazzling film on Birch’s resume, however, is undeniably Randal Kleiser’s much loved 1978 musical classic Grease, which the choreographer originated on Broadway. […]
[…]
““I didn’t see it coming,” Birch told Vanity Fair of Grease’s huge box office pull and now exalted position in pop culture.
“I didn’t pay attention to that. When you’re working, you have to keep your mind on what you’re doing, not what it’s gonna make. It’s not something I live off of, but it made it a little easier for other things to happen along the way. When you have a success like that, people treat you better.”
Part of that treatment included being handed the reins on the sequel Grease 2, with powerhouse producer Alan Carr anointing Birch director after being so happy with her work on the original. […]
[…] Birch justifiably hesitated over taking on the role, but eventually jumped in.
Though up against it, Birch crafted something truly fun and ebullient with Grease 2. Essentially a gender-flip (thirty years ahead of its time!) […]
Returning more to the grit of the original stage production (Birch had actually fought against the increased “sunniness” of Grease), the sequel is filled with great songs (try, just try, to get “Cool Rider” out of your head!) and expertly staged dance sequences in interesting locations.
It’s a beautifully choreographed and well directed film with much to recommend it, but Grease 2 was just so beleaguered by the weight of expectation that its chances of success were always slim.”
– READ MORE HERE.
4. ‘Motorcycles and musical numbers: An oral history of how Grease 2 became a cult classic’
FATNTASTIC article, with quotes from cast, BTS stuff, photos, and clips.
“ZMED: One of the things that killed me is that Lorna never had her own song in Grease 2. She probably had the best voice, and even when she sang those few lines in “Score Tonight,” you suddenly heard freaking Pat Benatar come out. I wish she had her own song. But at least she got to sing in “Score Tonight,” and everybody got a touch of, “Oh, there’s Judy Garland’s daughter.”
LUFT: I did everything I could. That was a decision that was made by the producers. I wanted one desperately, and I guess they didn’t see the script changing. It wasn’t like Paulette ever had a song and they took it out. She never had one. So we tried desperately to get a song for Paulette, and I know Pat Birch really, really tried to figure out what that would be. But it didn’t work out.“
– READ HEREat Entertainment Tonight.