Vanessa Hudgens mourns father

Jessie J opened the show singing “Grease” while cameras followed her touring the extensive backstage.

Just hours after she announced on Twitter that her father had lost his battle to cancer, Vanessa Hudgens dedicated her performance as Rizzo in the FOX broadcast of “Grease Live” last night.

“I am so sad to say that last night my daddy, Greg passed away from stage 4 cancer”, Vanessa tweeted on Sunday. (She rolled her tongue around so much, you couldn’t help but think of one of Hudgens’ successors in that mode, Miley.) After Stockard Channing’s movie take on the role, it nearly seemed odd to experience a pregnancy-scared Rizzo who isn’t actually menopausal.

From “Greased Lightning” to “You’re the One That I Want”, the show’s big musical numbers bristled with energy. I hate cancer with every cell of my being. Refinery 29 cited that the character is complex but she may very well be the real hero of “Grease”. And she didn’t just give an admirable performance under tragic circumstances – she was one of the highlights of the show.

Before returning to the stage, Vanessa had made headlines for a reported tiff with High School Musical co-star Zac Efron.

Vanessa Hudgens also took part in several film projects and TV series for the Disney Channel. “The ambitious $16 million production of the Rydell High School musical was as impressive as it was fun”, wrote the (New York) Daily News. By the time “Grease” became a film, the stage musical it was based off of had gone through numerous rewrites, losing the raunchy, illicit edge of the 1971 premiere for a more sanitized version that hit the right note of pop-nostalgia. She released her second album in 2008. Taking into considering her father’s untimely passing over the weekend, Hudgens’ commitment to this role is even more poignant. Her performance was critically acclaimed in “Bandslam”.

Fox put on Grease: Live in a clear attempt to ape the success that NBC has found with it’s recent live productions of the past few years. That they lacked the crackling chemistry of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John was apparent from the start, but their acting was also flat throughout.

Hough, Tveit and Hudgens were joined by some big names like Carly Rae Jepsen, Boyz II Men, Joe Jonas, Mario Lopez and even the original Frenchy – Didi Conn.