Grease LIVE watched by 17 million worldwide

It has been revealed that Grease LIVE was watched by 17 million worldwide!

An updated figure of 14.3 million watched the broadcast live on Fox along with along with 1.7 million viewers on CTV Canada.

666,000 viewers in the UK tuned in to watch the musical on ITV2 UK whilst an additional 590,000 tuned in to Channel 9 in Australia. Very impressive figures! The cast album is now avaliable in the UK from iTunes.

Grease LIVE was more popular than NBC's December broadcast of The Wiz LIVE which pulled in 11.5 million viewers and NBC's Peter Pan LIVE which was watched by 9.1 million viewers in 2014. However, the most popular U.S. live musical in recent times is still NBC's The Sound of Music LIVE which pulled in 18.62 million viewers in 2013.

Grease LIVE watched by 12.2 million in the U.S.

Grease LIVE was a tremendous success in the U.S. over the weekend; 12.2 million viewers tuned in to watch Fox's Broadcast on Sunday evening (31st January).

This meant Fox was the top network of the night. Grease LIVE marks Fox's second highest-rated entertainment programming of the season, falling just behind the season premiere of Empire. There were an whopping 1.397 million tweets about the live broadcast.

Grease LIVE was more popular than NBC's December broadcast of The Wiz LIVE which pulled in 11.5 million viewers and NBC's Peter Pan LIVE which was watched by 9.1 million viewers in 2014. However, the most popular U.S. live musical  in recent times is still NBC's The Sound of Music LIVE which pulled in 18.62 million viewers in 2013.

Theatrical guide to February 2016

Keep an eye on...

Carrie Hope Fletcher

This month marks the end of an era as Carrie Hope Fletcher plays her final performance as Eponine in Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre on Saturday 13th February, a role she has been playing since June 2013. However, the star has teased that she has "something exceedingly exciting to move on to" so watch this space for updates! It has been remarkable to see Hope Fletcher grow over the past few years, I caught Les Miserables recently and was blown away by her sincere, heartfelt portrayal of Eponine. An exciting theatrical career looks set to lie ahead for Hope Fletcher, we can't wait to find out what she's up to next!

Matthew Perry

A big month lies ahead for Friends legend Matthew Perry; not only is he returning to the West End, but he is starring in his debut play The End of Longing! Described as a "fast paced and bittersweet comic new play", The End of Longing is helmed by Lindsay Posner who previously directed Perry in the West End production of Sexual Perversity In Chicago. Also starring Christina Cole, Jennifer Mudge and Lloyd Owen, The End of Longing begins performances at the Playhouse Theatre on 2nd February.

Shows that should be on your radar...

Vanessa Hudgens performed Grease LIVE day after her father passed away

Last night (31st January) Vanessa Hudgens starred as Rizzo in Grease LIVE after her father passed away on Saturday (30th January) following a battle with cancer.

The former High School Musical actress confirmed prior to the broadcast that she would go ahead and perform the show in her father's honour.

Writing on Twitter, Hudgens said: "I am so sad to say that last night my daddy, Greg passed away from stage 4 cancer. Thank you to everyone who kept him in your prayers. Tonight, I do the show in his honor."

Grease LIVE starring Aaron Tveit & Vanessa Hudgens to be broadcast in the UK!

Grease is the word! This Sunday (31st January) FOX are broadcasting a live television production of musical Grease in America.

It has now been announced that ITV have picked up Paramount Television’s production meaning Grease LIVE will be broadcast on ITV2 next Wednesday (3rd February 2016) at 8pm.

The cast includes Aaron Tveit (Les Miserables/Wicked) as Danny Zuko, Vanessa Hudgens (Gigi/High School Musical) as Rizzo and Julianne Hough (Rock of Ages) as Sandy.