the question isn't why has grease been reissued . the answer to that one is easy : to celebrate the movie's 20th anniversary and to make more bucks for paramount's coffers because john travolta is once again a hot commodity . no , the question that ought to be asked is : should grease be reissued ? the answer is not an easy one . grease is a fun movie , an entertaining fantasy of the '50s , embodying all the cliches of that era . the music is lively and the dance numbers , choreographed by patricia birch , are energetic and high-spirited . travolta was at his pinnacle as a sexual icon , cool , but non-threatening . but grease didn't break any new cinematic ground . it was not a milestone in movie history such as citizen kane or easy rider . what grease is - or has become - is the highest-grossing musical in film history . ok , let's not be a spoilsport . grease is a fun and entertaining movie , even though it stretches credulity to see such performers as travolta , olivia newton-john , taxi's jeff conaway and the multi-talented stockard channing try to act like high schoolers . it's nostalgic to recall how good a dancer travolta was , and it's sad to think of what could have been had not a few missteps sidetracked his career . he could have become a musical comedy star in the tradition of gene kelly . cinematically , the musical comedy has basically gone the way of the dinosaur . between grease and 1996's evita . , you can probably count the number of movie musicals on one hand . two reasons have contributed to the demise of the genre : the first is that movie audiences have become more sophisticated , no , make that cynical and jaded . today , if a character began to dance and sing with no orchestra in sight , he or she would probably be hooted off the screen . today's audiences lack the innocence , that belief in movie magic that is required for a musical to succeed . secondly , a lack of talent . performers with the charisma , the style , the larger-than-life panache of fred astaire , gene kelly , ginger rogers and judy garland are gone . most singers and dancers remain on the stage , and those who do succeed in movies usually wind up in serious dramatic parts . a good example is gregory hines , one of the greatest dancers in the world . he danced a bit in the cotton club , tap and white nights , but those were essentially dramatic vehicles . so , perhaps the reissue of grease can serve a purpose . if audiences show enough interest , meaning if the re-release earns the studio enough revenue , it may spark a revival in movie musicals . perhaps not original musicals such as singin' in the rain , an american in paris or seven brides for seven brothers , but for broadway properties that have been in the planning stages for film adaptations for several years . at one time or another , according to the industry rumor mill , hollywood has been set to create an animated version of andrew lloyd webber's cats , a filming of the popular phantom of the opera as well as les miserables and chicago , the latter reportedly to star madonna . so , let this grease be the forerunner of an armada of movie musicals . let grease be the word that sparks this revival .
