TV Reality Show Will Select Stars For Broadway Revival of Grease

You're the One That We Want, a new talent competition series from BBC Worldwide Productions, will search for the next Sandy Dumbrowski and Danny Zuko to star in a June 2007 Broadway revival of Grease, according to an announcement from NBC, which will broadcast the show.

The competition, debuting in an unspecified "mid-season" timeslot, will allow American viewers to choose the two leads for new production of the Jim Jacobs/Warren Casey musical. The tuner will be helmed by two-time Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall The Pajama Game. Jacobs, Marshall and producer David Ian will serve as judges of the American Idol-style TV show. A similar televised competition, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? is currently running in England to choose the star of a London production of The Sound of Music.

Grease is a musical story based on the cliques of 1950s high school life. It originated onstage in Chicago in 1971 before transferring to off-Broadway's Eden Theatre in 1972 and eventually moving to Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre on June 7, 1972, where it was nominated for seven Tony Awards. A popular film version of Grease, starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in the lead roles, was released in 1978. The show's most recent Broadway revival opened on May 11, 1994, and played 1,503 performances.

Tickets for the upcoming production are set to go on sale in December 2006.