Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey - Grease: A New 50's Rock 'N Roll Musical - The Original Broadway Cast Album

The Quintessential Grease

As a high school theater director, I have taught this musical and this cast recording is the best resource for anyone who really wants to enjoy this show the way it was intended to be enjoyed. While some of the songs written specifically for the movie are absent from this recording, the original line-up is mostly intact (the only noticeable deletion is the "Beauty School Dropout (reprise)", which in the movie was used as the final verse of the song).

The singing in this original Broadway cast recording is very well done. The vocal performers handle the material very well considering there is a lot of falsetto parts in the guys (a lot of which was cut from the movie version). The orchestra does an outstanding job (especially the 1st tenor sax player's solo lines on "There Are Worse Things I Could Do"). The cover art contains the musical's original artwork and is colorful and fun with great liner notes and photos.

I own almost every recording of Grease there is (this one, '94 cast, '95 cast, '07 cast, London cast, movie soundtrack) and I have found this one to be my favorite, by far. If you are planning to perform Grease with a theater troupe, this is THE ONLY version that matches the original musical as it is the ONLY version that uses the original orchestrations and vocal lines.

And, if all that isn't enough ... you can't beat the price of $7.98! This is a steal! Buy now and be extremely satisfied. After 35+ years, the original Grease is still the word. October 2, 2008

Original is the Best

In my opinion this is the best production of Grease. It sounds captures the real 50's sound. Later revivals, and the movie, pad the soundtrack until the only connection to the 50s is the clothing. Fantastic cast makes this a gem to treasure. May 22, 2008

I've found my Grease

just heard the original Broadway cast soundtrack of Grease, and I couldn't believe it. It was so funny, so original, so interesting. lol, they should really make a movie out of this.

Don't get me wrong--I'm not quite that pretentious, yet--I always liked Grease; I was an American teenager for crying out loud. I played Jan in our school's production, and felt very cool for doing so. But, having the soundtrack on cassette for years, the only songs I've ever consistently listened to are "Those Magic Changes" sung by the Sha-Na-Nas, "Beauty School Dropout", and "Stranded at the Drive-In" (so wonderfully silly). And I could never figure out what was so "monumental" about the score as a whole.

So, by accident, my library gave me the original Broadway cast (I was trying to get the movie soundtrack for the Sha-Na-Nas numbers) and I gave it a listen. It was so freaking funny. All these years, it never occurred to me that Grease was supposed to be good for more than a few chuckles. I actually laughed out loud at the songs. I was in a constant state of "Oh. Ooooohhhh. I see. Oh. Well that's interesting. Wow."

I never knew that a lot of the songs in the background of the movie are full numbers in the musical; I know they did that in Cabaret, as well, but it really bugged me with this one (well okay, "don't tell mama" being cut out of Cabaret the movie bugged the hell out of me.) And, as much as I love the Sha-Na-Nas version of "Those Magic Changes", the character Doodie's rendition of it in the original musical totally made me get a crush on him now, which never would've happened with the movie's Doodie. All of the characters who are secondary in the movie are actually more well-rounded than the leads, who seem more like the joke-characters in the musical.

Interesting how, with much fewer instruments, and sillier intros into the songs, the numbers actually feel more realistic and spur-of-the-moment. It was a really original musical when it came out.

Anyway, it's one of those soundtracks (and this is how I gage Broadway for personal reference) that really made me want to live in that universe where people spontaneously break into musical numbers; or, if not spontaneously, then after being given a nice walk-in line like "But what if we can't pull it off?" or "I just love him so much."

I now have a Grease to call my own.
November 16, 2007

This is the REAL Grease.

Grease, here in its original form, is an adventurous, raw, rowdy, INSIGHTFUL show that paints a very accurate picture of a pivotal moment in American history when rock and roll was giving birth to the Sexual Revolution. Grease is not a silly, brainless 50s parody, but is instead a smart, insightful, alternative piece of theatre (inspired in many ways by HAIR), with real muscle, attitude, rawness, and a thrilling, subversive, over-sexed energy. If you want to hear what Grease SHOULD sound like, if you want to hear the real sound of early rock and roll, get this original 1972 recording. Forget the awful revival, and forget the movie (as fun as it may be) -- THIS is Grease. [...] January 7, 2007

Love it!

We have been trying to get our drama teacher to let us do Grease for years (way before I even went to the school) and this year she's finally letting us.

I've always been a fan of Grease whenever it would come on TV I'd watch it and sing to the songs and I always wanted to be Sandy. But, by listening to the soundtrack I've changed my mind into trying out for Marty because "Freddy, My Love" is, in my opinion, the best song on the soundtrack, the only problem, it's an alto song and I'm a soprano.

Anyway, enough about my life, let's talk about the album. As I said before I've always been a Grease fan, but this version has made me love it even more. This original version is way better than the movie version, the songs seem to fall into place better than in the movie (because they were written for the play of course). Actually, the songs NOT in the movie are the best songs in the play, other than "Freddy, My Love" there are "Mooning" sung by Roger and Jan at a picnic, "Raining on Prom Night" (replaced by "Hoplessly Devoted to You" in the play, Sandy sings this song in her room instead of going to the dance as she did in the movie), "Alone at a Drive-in Movie" (replaced by "Sandy" in the movie, basically, it says the same thing as "Sandy" does), and "All Choked Up" (replaced by "You're the One That I Want", I'm kinda glad it was replaced because I like "You're the One That I Want" better).

I hope this helped you, it probably didn't because of all the personal anecdotes I had to put in there. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that it's a good album and worth buying if you're a Grease fan. December 30, 2006

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