I’ll make this short and sweet.

On Jan 31st, Fox premiered its production of Grease Live! It featured a brand new cast and guest musical performances. While I won’t get into specifics about the show, I do want to highlight two significant changes from the original movie that was memorable.

First, there were more interracial couples and characters of color this time than in the 1978 movie. By adding more diversity to the cast, the producers made a 1950s piece more modern.

Second, there was a slight line change that I think is worth noting. Before the National Bandstand broadcast went live, the coach went over the rules of the dance competition. He said that the dancers had to be couples only, no singles or threesomes. It seems like a simple line, right? But it is remarkably different from the original line in the movie. The coach back then said that all the partners had to be male-female. By eliminating that line and replacing it with the more inclusive term “couple,” Grease, Live showed the social progress we had made almost 40 years since the film was made.

They could have chosen to stay with the original line, which was more realistic given the story’s time frame. However, by choosing to revise the plot and adding diverse actors to the cast, the producers took a firm stance. Concepts like race and sexual orientation should reflect society’s positive changes, regardless of the story’s original setting.

Some things are just more important than sticking to the script.