Why Vanessa Hudgens Decided to Do 'Grease Live!' After Her Father's Death
"I looked at her in the eyes and said, 'Can you do this?'"
By Alyssa Bailey
Yesterday night, Vanessa Hudgens did what very few could: She performedGrease Live!, a three-hour live musical, the day after her father passed away from cancer. "It was incredibly brave of her," executive producer Marc Platt told Variety. "She's a professional, but she's also a human being and a daughter."
Before the show, Platt had a conversation with her:
I looked at her in the eyes and said, 'Can you do this? I think your dad would want you to do this,' and she said she knew that he would. She knew that she had to do it. She knew that she had to put that in a box for a few hours and use it to fuel her performance. We asked her if her family would come. And they came to the show and watched in a trailer live on the Warners lot. I was with her mom. I think it was for all of them a very cathartic experience given the brutality of the circumstances. Her performance speaks for itself. We were all very proud of her and send her love to her family.
And her costars gave her extra love during the show, Carly Rae Jepsen, who played Frenchy, told Vulture. During Hudgens' solo, they were right there:
We were aware of the concerns with Vanessa's father's health leading up to this point, and we'd been there for her through the thick and thin of it. The timing of this was heartbreaking, none of us could believe it. But we all just cocooned her; we hugged around her and told her, "This one's for you." There's a point between scenes where everyone's running around, but we all quickly got dressed and were holding hands backstage watching her as she did that solo. God, did that girl kill it. We were proud beyond words. I think she is such a professional and such a talent. Her strength, to me, is one of the most inspiring things. I've told her time and time again that she's my hero.
The show's dedication to Hudgens' father was last-minute, Platt said:
At the 11th hour I asked her if we could honor her dad and the memory of her dad in that way and she was very touched by it. Fox jumped on and Paramount and we put it in the last moment. We were happy to do so. The performance was indeed dedicated to his memory.
And what a performance it was:
Alyssa Bailey News and Strategy Editor Alyssa Bailey is the news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton).
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