Behind the scenes of Grease

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The Broadway musical "Grease" has opened at the Long Center in downtown Austin. Fans of the movie might be surprised at the plot of the play.

"Most people don't realize that Grease was a Broadway musical long before it was a movie," said BJ Forman, Production Stage Manager of Grease.

This latest stage production of Grease features four songs from the movie plus the same cast of characters.

And it turns out the characters are based on real life people the creator of the musical went to high school with.

"When he goes to reunions he goes back and sees those people again so this is very much a documentary to him," said Forman.

BJ Forman is the Production Stage Manager in charge of making sure everything goes off on cue.

He gave us a behind the scenes look at what goes into the production.

It includes 1000 costume pieces.

And a lot of the clothes are heavy.

"It weighs a significant amount," said Forman. "She has to dance in it."

And almost every main character has to dance in a wig. Seventy five different wigs are part of the production. And costume changes are quick, especially for Sandy when she has 90 seconds to go from the sweet girl look to the bad girl.

"She stands there, four people undress her, 2 others do her hair, flip her around, put on a leather coat, and put a cigarette in her hand," said Forman.

But the one character that's a big draw is former American Idol Taylor Hicks.

He plays Teen Angel - Frankie Avalon played him in the movie.

"He's only in one scene," said Forman. "He does give a us a little surprise at the end of the show. If you're one of those people who likes to get up don't because Taylor is coming back for an encore."

Grease runs through Sunday at the Long Center.