“Grease” and “Grease 2” — A Cinematic Conundrum

How One Of The Best Movie Musicals In History Was Followed By One Of the Worst

The on-screen dynamic is tremendous between John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in Grease.

But not so much between Michelle Pfieffer and Maxwell Caufield in Grease 2.

How can that be? How could Grease, one of the best and most popular movie musicals in the history of entertainment, have been followed by Grease 2 — one of the worst and most unsuccessful movie musicals in the history of entertainment?

Originally released in 1978, Grease helped to catapult Travolta into motion picture superstardom, following his already-impressive big-screen debut that same year in Saturday Night Fever (Carrie, 1976, notwithstanding). It was all part of a meteoric rise that began on the small screen with his teen-idol interpretation of Vinnie Barbarino on ABC’s Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979). Travolta came to play that role (“I’m so confused!”), in part, due to the solid acting chops he showcased on stage, which included his secondary performance as Kenickie in an original live stage production of Grease (presented by the National Tour at the Hanna Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio — March 26, 1973, to April 2, 1973).

Ironically, Jeff Conaway, later of TV’s Taxi fame (ABC/NBC, 1978–1982), who would play…