Fox's 'Grease: Live' Casts Its Danny Zuko

By Lesley Goldberg

Fox’s Grease: Live has found its leading man.

Graceland star Aaron Tveit is set to play Danny Zuko in the live production set to air Jan. 31, with Big Time Rush’s Carlos PenaVega set as Kenickie, Fox announced Thursday.

Tveit will take on the role famously played by John Travolta, while PenaVega will step into the tough guy shoes made famous by Jeff Conaway.

Tveit will star opposite Julianne Hough as Sandy and joins a cast that also includes Vanessa Hudgens as bad girl Rizzo and Keke Palmer (Scream Queens) as Pink Lady Marty Maraschino.

For his part, Tveit is an accomplished theater actor who starred in Catch Me If You Can and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Next to Normal. His TV credits include starring in USA Network’s Graceland as well as the feature film adaptation of Les Miserables.

PanaVega stars on Big Time Rush and was a member of the band of the same name. His credits include Spare Parts, ER and Summerland. He studied musical theater at the Boston Conservatory.

Grease: Live is exec produced by Marc Platt (Wicked). Thomas Kail will stage direct while Alex Rudzinski will helm for TV. Broadway writers Robert Cary (Anything but Love) and Jonathan Tolins (Buyer & Cellar) will pen the the live TV adaptation. Paramount Television produces.

The three-hour production will air live at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016.

What do you think of the casting? Sound off in the comments below.