Vanessa Hudgens dedicates Grease show to father, who died day before

Last night’s “Grease: Live” wasn’t going to be able to be almost as good as the 1978 film adaptation of the musical that imprinted John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John shimmying in all black into the minds of middle-schoolers everywhere.

This puts Grease: Live above The Wiz Live!

Hudgens’ strong performance came only hours after father died of cancer.

Those are circumstances that would render anyone unable to work, let alone do so on live television.

According to US Weekly, Anna Kendrick started an uproar when she tweeted her appreciation for Tveit’s tank and shorts combo when he strutted onto the set for the gymnasium scene. Imagine if you had the day she had & then performed like that. Wow. “I think your dad would want you to do this, and she said she knew that he would”. And though Hough’s three older sisters arguably had dibs on the best roles, she laughs, “I was in my own world, so I was playing Sandy regardless if I was supposed to or not!”

“Grease Live!”, Fox’s first live TV musical, grabbed a big audience and acclaim for its impressive production value.

“I told her, ‘Girl, nobody heard that, ‘” Palmer told ET, recalling a conversation the two had.

Hudgens also received an outpouring of support from costars and fans who were astounded by her performance and professionalism. “We were all very proud of her and send love to her family”.

Fox then honored the memory of Hudgens’ father by rolling a memorial at the end of the credits.

Hudgens took to Twitter to express her gratitude for the outpouring of kind words, writing, “I can’t believe @gogrease is OVER!” Her strength, to me, is one of the most inspiring things. She kept up with the hand-jivin’ of the professional dancers, and her high energy and contagious smile in the competition were far from mournful.