Cool Rider Live

More than thirty years after Grease 2 bowled its way into theaters, the Rydell High class of 1961 finally made it to the West End. On Monday, January 27, 2014, Grease 2 In Concert played the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue for one night only — two sold-out shows.

Megamix

Cool Rider Lyric Theatre Jan 2014 Megamix – YouTube

Producers Christopher D. Clegg and James DP Drury announced the show in October 2013, promising the film's full score with a live band, plus some new scenes written just for the stage. The goal was to celebrate the movie's brilliance and its shortcomings in equal measure, which is exactly how fans have always loved it.

The response was strong enough to bring the show back that spring under a new name, Cool Rider, for a one-week run at the Duchess Theatre from April 15 to 19. The set list covered the soundtrack favorites: "Who's That Guy?", "Score Tonight", "Reproduction", "Girl for All Seasons", "Rock-A-Hula-Luau (Summer Is Coming)" and, of course, "Cool Rider" itself, performed atop a stepladder just like Stephanie's big moment in the film.

Encore

Ashleigh Gray - Cool Rider Live - Encore (Saturday 19th April 2014 Matinee) – YouTube

The cast album

The Duchess run convinced the producers that the score deserved a proper recording, and more than two hundred fans funded one through Kickstarter. Cool Rider: Original Studio Cast Recording was taped at Voicebox Productions in London over April and May 2015 and released that June, with Lee Freeman as musical director, orchestrator and vocal arranger.

Ashleigh Gray and Aaron Sidwell lead the sixteen tracks, joined by Reece Shearsmith on "Reproduction" and Niki Evans on "Rock-A-Hula-Luau". Alongside the film's songs the album adds an overture, a doo-wop turn through "Mr Sandman" and "Who's That Girl?", a solo for Aaron Sidwell that never appeared in the film.

Ten years later, Cool Rider returned for an anniversary concert: see Cool Rider Live: 10 Years Later.