‘Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies’, ‘Up Here’ And ‘Schmigadoon!’ Choreographers On Driving The Narrative Through Motion

deadline.com:

Singing is essential for telling stories in a musical, but the choreography makes up the visual component that allows the narrative to unfold in front of our eyes.

This Emmy season has a number of musical series and specials, and the choreographers are in charge of visually driving those stories forward.

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies expands the universe of the 1978 film and brings a modern touch to the ’50s. Based on the stage musical of the same name, Up Here brings a motion-based narrative to inner thoughts.

And inspired by musicals from the ’60s and ’70s, Schmigadoon! takes a dark turn in the land of Schmicago. Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies While the show is not a remake of the original Grease film, choreographer Jamal Sims views Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies as an extension of what’s already been developed. “There’s some modernisms in there,” says Sims, “but it’s not totally modern because I really wanted the ’50s to come through.” Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies takes place four years before the original film’s events and follows the beginnings of the girl gang that would usher Rydell High into a new era.