‘Saved By The Bell’s’ Mario Lopez Joins Cast Of Fox’s ‘Grease Live’
Mario Lopez is the latest celebrity to join the all-star cast of Fox’s musical, Grease Live, in his role of DJ music host Vince Fontaine.
The former Saved By The Bell star will reprise the role of Rydell High School dance show host Vince Fontaine, who serves as a DJ of a teen dance competition that allows innocent love interest Sandy to showcase her amazing dance skills. His role was originally played by Edd Byrnes in 1978.
No stranger to live performances, Lopez, now 42, danced through Broadway’s A Chorus Line in 2008 as Zach.
The announcement that Mario Lopez is joining Grease Live comes a few weeks after “Call Me Maybe” singer songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen accepted the Beauty School Dropout role of Pink Lady Frenchy.
“Tell me more, tell me more! I’ll be joining the cast of #GreaseLive as Frenchy!”
Grease Live, Fox’s latest foray into live performances will start with a rendition of “Grease – Is The Word” by singer Jessie J.
Lopez, host of Extra, joins an all-star ensemble cast in the newest rendition of the 1978 musical Grease where teenage lovebirds Danny and Sandy struggle to keep their summer romance alive when Sandy unexpectedly transfers to Danny’s high school.
Graceland’s Aaron Tveit is slated to play bad boy rebel T-Bird Danny Zuko, originally played by leather jacket clad John Travolta. He told Variety he was proud to be cast as the lovesick biker boy in the reimagining of the 1978 film Grease.
“Playing Danny Zuko is a dream role, and I can’t wait to be a part of all the fun that comes along with performing live on television.”
“I’m not nervous in a terrified way. I’m nervous in an excited way. I can’t wait to get started. It’s like the first day of school for sure when you have a new path and you kind of don’t know what you’re getting into yet even though you know the story.”
High School Musical’s star Vanessa Hudgens will take on the iconic role of Rizzo, leader of the Pink Ladies. She was cast in January and told EW she looked forward to starring in the film she’d seen over and over.
“She’s deep, you know. She’s a toughie. So I’m excited to kind of sink my teeth in to that. That’s a character I’ve never played before so it’ll be fun and a challenge.”
The remaining Pink Ladies will be comprised of Masters of Sex Keke Palmer as Marty and You’re The Worst star Kether Donohue as Jan.
What a crew @GreaseLive @FOXTV being put together! Awesome to have @MarioLopezExtra joining us! https://t.co/2vIR7rP3J0
— Aaron Tveit (@AaronTveit) October 23, 2015
The T-Birds, meanwhile, will be played by Big Time Rush’s Carlos PenaVega as Kenickie and Pitch Perfect’s David Del Rio as Putzie.
Grease Live is set to air January 31 on Fox at 7 p.m. ET.
The original 1978 romantic comedy Grease, the musical by Paramount Pictures, was a critical and commercial success. It’s based on a 1971 musical by Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs of the same name that is much darker. The 1978 version was sanitized and cleaned up to meet the social norms of the public at the time.
It starred John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing and Jeff Conaway. The soundtrack went on to be the best-selling musical of the year. It also spawned a sequel Grease 2, which didn’t do nearly as well at the box office.
[Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for Le Via]
