The TV series “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies,” a prequel to the classic 1978 film “Grease,” will reportedly explore topics like gender expression, sexual orientation, and racism.
The new series is also set at Rydell High, but the new version includes a new mix of students, including many ethnicities and some who identify as LGBTQ. Per a report from The Daily Mail, the new version will include classic songs alongside new songs, including one focused on racism.
In the new version, four female students face challenges as they try to form a music group. These events take place four years before Danny and Sandy attend the school, the publication noted.
But even though the events are new, there are nods to the original in “Rise of the Pink Ladies.” The classic “Greased Lightning” music number is reimagined with Ari Notartomaso, who identifies as “non-binary,” leading the way as Cynthia, according to The Daily Mail.
“Queerness, gender nonconformity, and transness throughout time hasn’t always been exactly the same,” Notartomaso said of participating in the project. “All of us are a product of the culture that we live in, but it is really special to be able to tell that story of what it may have been like in the 1950s.”
Casting director Conrad Woolfe said he was convinced Notartomaso had the right “butch energy” for the role as he was looking for “someone who was openly queer, openly LGBTQ” to play Cynthia, per an interview with Variety.
The third episode will allegedly focus on discrimination at Rydell High. The lessons will be set to music and include the lyrics, “When you’re in the club, we’ve got each other’s backs. As long as you’re not Jewish, Asian, brown or black, single woman or gay, on the wrong side of they.”
Even some Left-leaning outlets aren’t impressed by the series, with The Guardian calling it, “the reboot no one asked for.”
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They went on to describe it as a “subpar musical numbers and standard-grade streaming TV bloat” with “a lot of too vigorous choreography, some cringe-y and underbaked imaginary sequences, and several forgettable songs per episode.”
“Pink Ladies is such a mighty morass of bad ideas that it’s hard to keep it all straight,” the USA Today reviewer wrote. “In spite of each episode being overpacked with characters, bad musical numbers, and prosaic dialogue, the series is entirely lacking in substance behind all the over-exaggerated style.”
The show premiered on Paramount+ on April 6.