NBC's popular new talent competition series Grease: You're the One That I Want has announced its Top 12 contestants, who will be performing live starting next Sunday, January 28, 7-9 p.m. ET in a special 2-hour episode, which will also feature Olivia Newton-John as a guest judge.
After nationwide auditions were held to search for the next Danny and Sandy, the top performers attended "Grease Academy," where they were trained by two-time Tony Award winning choreographer, Kathleen Marshall, and professional acting, dance and vocal coaches to refine their skills.
In last night's episode, the 12 finalists from Grease Academy were revealed. These 12 will perform each week in eight live episodes, and America will decide which Danny and Sandy hopefuls will move on to the next round.
The 12 finalists are:
Allie Schultz, 19, Nashville, Tennessee
Laura Osnes, 20, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Ashley Spencer, 21, Massillon, Ohio
Kate Rockwell, 22, Cincinnati, Ohio
Juliana Hansen, 23, Los Angeles, California
Kathleen Monteleone, 23, Tigard, Oregon
Max Crumm, 21, Phoenix, Arizona
Kevin Greene, 22, Rochester, New York
Derek Keeling, 26, Charleston, West Virginia
Chad Doreck, 27, Long Beach, California
Austin Miller, 30, Alvin, Texas
Jason Celaya, 31, Foster City, California
Viewers can get more information about the contestants each week on NBC.com.
In this exciting live portion of the reality series, America will ultimately get to choose the two leads for a new Broadway production of the hit musical Grease. The new production of Grease is scheduled to open on Broadway in July 2007, and will be directed and choreographed by Marshall (The Pajama Game), who is also a judge on the series. She's joined on the judging panel by Jim Jacobs, the co-creator of Grease, and renowned theater producer David Ian. Billy Bush (Access Hollywood) and Denise Van Outen (Broadway's Chicago) serve as host and co-host.