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Watch Grease: Live from the control room

Watch an Associate Director calling the Grease shots and counting the bars of music all at the same time...

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Just how technically challenging was Grease: Live?

Feast your eyes on this sequence of Greased Lightning as Associate Director Carrie Havel calls the shots and counts the bars of music all at the same time…

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  1. Brilliant show and great behind the scene clip.
    Agree with DaveS – I wanted to know how they changed the car so quickly.
    The HD picture and Dolby Digital sound were terrific on 9HD. Just a pity I hadn’t recorded the first half of the show. Went back and watched it via catchup on 9now but the sound wasn’t as good.
    I see that Grease Live is being repeated this Friday 12 Feb on 9Gem. Pity it will only be SD and probably not Dolby Digital sound but still worth a look if you didn’t see it first time around.

  2. I’m still trying to work out how they changed the car! Did they wheel in/out & completely swap car? I’m doubtful of this because in a few shots looks like a wheel chock or similar under the front drivers side. But then if they swapped/added new panels then it looks completely seamless too. A bit hard to make out but in one of the control monitors it looks like that’s what they did do, but I’d love a more detailed behind the scenes video on that. Very impressed with the whole production and how managed to pull it all off live. Amazing.

    1. Go to the Grease Live page on the Fox website ( or do a search for Grease Live Fox and you should be able to find a link). Look for the Behind the scenes section and scroll through the pics.
      There is one that shows a rehearsal shot of the car and a panel cover on the ground. It was either lifted by crew, or lowered by down by cables, on to the car when the guys were dancing on the other side of the set.
      There are some other interesting BTS pics and videos, as well as explaining what changes were made because of the rain.

      1. I knew I should have checked before posting! There is some video of the cover panels being placed onto the car by hand. Go to the Clips section and find the BTS Set Tour pt1 video and you’ll see it.

        1. Thanks for that. Found it. Had looked around the Facebook page a bit but not the actual Fox site. Wonder how early/late that video was done (most of the sets looked finished as opposed to during the directors video), because in the final show the car was a different colour.

  4. Well as someone who’s worked in theatre all my life I was really impressed with the direction and production of the whole show. I would actually enjoy watching it again, hope Ch9 find time for a repeat.

  5. Whilst it seems impressive stage managers in musical theatre do this sort of stuff ( calling cues to the beat ) all the time.
    Not wanting to be little the skill, but the associate director is “just” reading a script ( derived from a heap of rehearsals) in time with the music.

    1. I think it’s more precise. Stage managers call lighting shots, scenic moves, FX and actors, but I’ve never known a music theatre stage manager to count every bar of music. Adding in multiple camera shots also adds to the complexity.

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