WATCH: New Grease spinoff series to explore ‘marginalized identity’ and ‘racism’
Julia Johnson
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Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies is set to put several modern twists in its spinoff of the beloved movie musical. Namely, it will feature the experiences of those with a “marginalized identity.”
“Our characters will get to experience from a different lens and how those experiences overlap with others with a marginalized identity,” said actor Ari Notartomaso, who plays Cynthia, during a Television Critic’s Association 2023 Press Tour panel last month, per Deadline. “I think we have the opportunity to represent another struggle that overlaps with things we’re dealing with today, like racism.”
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In beginning preparation for the show, creator and showrunner Annabel Oakes said she spoke to people of all races, as well as “popular girls” and “radical lesbian feminists,” per Adweek.
“I started to get these amazing, beautiful, interesting, and unexpected stories from people of all different walks of life,” she said.
The show, a musical comedy, is set in 1954 — four years before Grease is set to take place. According to the show’s description, it follows the Pink Ladies as they spark “a moral panic that will change Rydell High forever.” While the show is set more than 60 years ago, it will feature modern themes regarding race and sexuality.
Notartomaso reportedly explained that “Annabel [Oakes] said the other day, this show is a love letter to the women of the ‘50s … it’s also a letter to all the people who were not given the screen time in the original Grease, and really in media in general.”
Notartomaso is also reportedly a member of the LGBT community and goes by they/them pronouns.
“I had a chance to speak to a woman who was alive in the 1950s, who was gay in the ‘50s, and it was a wonderful experience for me to be able to ask questions about what it meant,” Notartomaso added.
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Oakes noted to Entertainment Weekly in December that the music will slightly diverge from the 1950s style, saying, “It’s R&B with an amp. We want to pay tribute to the real people who started rock & roll — black musicians, Latinx musicians, who were at the forefront. We want those in the show.”
“We’re just doing the work of looking at what Southern California might actually look like and telling some of those stories that didn’t have a chance to be told,” Oakes further said last month of the project.
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In the show’s trailer, the cast is noticeably different from the original movie, with a majority of the main characters being women of color. One snippet of the teaser reveals what appears to be two females leaning in for a kiss before the scene cuts off.
The new series premieres April 6 on Paramount+.