Just after I recovered from being so excited that Frenchy from Grease the movie, Didi Conn, talked to Fox's new Frenchy, Carly Rae Jepsen, Grease Live! premiered original song "All I Need Is An Angel." Frenchy never got a solo in Grease before, but Jepsen had the opportunity to sing the new song for Grease Live!. Although "All I Need Is An Angel" acted as a lead-in to Frenchy's Teen Angels (the incomparable Boyz II Men) to convince her to go back to high school, the song, unfortunately, fell flat.
Jepsen is known for being a bubbly performer with her hits like "Call Me Maybe," but "All I Need Is An Angel" was too melancholy and not time-period appropriate for Grease. The song was written by the composers behind If/Then and Next to Normal Tom Kitt and Brian Yorker, so that plus Jepsen should have meant success. Unfortunately, "All I Need Is An Angel" just slowed down the pace of the show, even if it did help usher in the somewhat-inexplainable, yet always-accepted Teen Angel(s).
However, Frenchy's solo at Frosty Palace was overshadowed by Boyz II Men's performance of "Beauty School Dropout" quickly after. (The men sounded great, even if the funny insults in the song weren't highlighted.) Let's just say that "All I Need Is An Angel" won't become a classic like many other Grease songs even if that's what Grease Live! was hoping for. You can watch the full performance below, but for now, I think we should all just move on and forget that happened.
Images: Kevin Estrada/FOX
