High School Musical

Grease is a musical, so its characters sing their feelings. It isn't the type of musical like Les Miserables where they're miserable all the time and just can't stop singing. Instead, Grease lets emotions build, then, when they just can't contain their feelings anymore, its characters burst into song.

Grease is also a romance, so its characters are singing about young love in songs like "Summer Nights" and "Hopelessly Devoted to You." They sing solos about feelings they're uncomfortable sharing with friends or the objects of their affections.

You know: feelings like "I want my car to look cherry" or "I'm bummed out that I dyed my hair pink."

However, while Grease is a bit of a fantasy—we don't know about you, but no one spontaneously segued into fully choreographed musical numbers at our school—it's tempered with a bit of realistic edge. This isn't a sunny-all-the-time feel-good flick like the 50s musicals it is in homage to. It's a 50s-style musical with some 1970s cynicism thrown in for good measure.

Check out our "What's Up with the Ending?" if you're not sure what we mean. Sorrynotsorry to burst your bubble, but all these magical high-school moments have to eventually come to an end.