--- title: Here's How Much Money It Cost to Produce 'Grease Live' on Fox description: 'Fox TV took a big risk by spending $16 million for a production of Grease: Live. But it looks like it was money well spent.' authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2016-02-01T15:16:57.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T09:51:49.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - 'grease: live' - Music - TV word_count: 372 canonical: https://money.com/grease-live-cost-production-sets/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![GREASE: LIVE: The Finale of GREASE: LIVE! Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016 on FOX.](https://img.money.com/2016/02/160201_em_grease.jpg?crop=0px%2C115px%2C2100px%2C1181px&quality=85) *GREASE: LIVE: The Finale of GREASE: LIVE! Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016 on FOX.* The Fox network sure didn't pinch pennies on its first foray into live TV musical production, "Grease: Live," which aired nationally on Sunday night. The show, starring Julianne Hough and Aaron Tveit and also featuring pop music stars like Carly Rae Jepsen, Nick Jonas, Jessie J, and (for the old-timers) Boys II Men, reportedly cost a whopping $16 million to make. According to [Entertainment Tonight](http://www.etonline.com/media/video/grease_live_by_the_numbers_find_out_how_much_it_cost_to_produce-181180/), the production of "Grease: Live" used 21 sets on 14 stages, spread out over 20 acres. The production required roughly [650 dancers and extras](http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/grease-live-behind-the-scenes-rehearsal-1201686798/), and the grand finale was filmed outdoors on a carnival set featuring a Ferris wheel and other theme park rides. The budget and elaborate production for "Grease: Live" far surpassed that of previous musicals broadcast live on TV. The 2013 production of "The Sound of Music," which aired on NBC and featured Carrie Underwood, cost less than [$9 million](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nbcs-live-sound-music-cost-661511) to make. And the consensus was that it would lose money on its first airing, though perhaps the show would turn a profit if and when it was broadcast multiple times. At least from the perspective of most critics and buzz on social media, Fox's big bet on "Grease: Live" seems to have paid off. Many commented that the acting wasn't always great, and the comedy often failed to connect, but the consensus is that the music, energy, and terrific directorial and production value trumped all. So in this case, it looks like the $16 million was money well spent. The show was "as sweet and tasty as root beer float," Maureen Ryan, [*Variety's* TV critic](http://variety.com/2016/tv/reviews/grease-live-review-fox-julianne-hough-aaron-tveit-1201693411/), summed up. "The ambitious $16 million production of the Rydell High School musical was as impressive as it was fun," wrote the (New York) [*Daily News*](http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/grease-live-fox-impressive-fun-article-1.2515789). ***Read next: [The 10 Richest Women of All Time](https://money.com/10-richest-women-all-time/)*** "'Grease: Live' reconfirms all the possibilities of the live musical event as a genuine transcendent pop experience: Clever, funny, rapturously huge in a way showbiz used to only want to be," [*Entertainment Weekly*](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/01/31/grease-live-ew-review) raved. As for everyday fans, they gushed about the musical on social media. "Twitter Is Going Crazy Over 'Grease: Live,'" [*People*](http://www.people.com/article/grease-live-twitter-reactions-funny) reported on Sunday night. As of Monday morning, more than one million Tweets had circulated with the [#greaselive](https://twitter.com/hashtag/GreaseLive?src=tren) hashtag. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/grease-live-cost-production-sets/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "TV", "item": "https://money.com/tv/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Here's How Much Money It Cost to Produce 'Grease Live' on Fox" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/grease-live-cost-production-sets/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/grease-live-cost-production-sets/", "name": "Here's How Much Money It Cost to Produce 'Grease Live' on Fox", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-02-01T15:16:57.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/grease-live-cost-production-sets/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/grease-live-cost-production-sets/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T09:51:49.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Here's How Much Money It Cost to Produce 'Grease Live' on Fox", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/02/160201_em_grease.jpg?crop=0px%2C115px%2C2100px%2C1181px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "160201_EM_Grease" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-02-01T15:16:57.000Z", "description": "Fox TV took a big risk by spending $16 million for a production of Grease: Live. 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