John Travolta revisits iconic Grease role 'for the first time' in almost 50 years - watch here

30 June 2025, 11:45

The actor dressed up as Danny Zuko to surprise Grease superfans in LA over the weekend.

John Travolta surprised thousands of fans at a Grease sing-along event on Friday (June 27) by turning up dressed as his iconic character, Danny Zuko.

The 71-year-old star’s appearance was a surprise even to the other members of Grease’s original cast who were gathered on stage to celebrate the film ahead of the show.

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Swaggering onto the stage as his ever-cool character Danny, John made sure he still looked the part 47 years on by styling his hair and donning Danny’s famous leather jacket look to make his appearance all the more special.

Watch John Travolta make his surprise appearance as Danny here:

John Travolta surprises Grease sing-a-long at the Hollywood Bowl

Taking to social media after the event, John penned: “Tonight at the Hollywood Bowl, for the first time I surprised everyone at the GREASE Sing-A-Long and dressed up as Danny Zuko.

“No one knew. Not even the cast,” he stressed. “Thank you for a great evening.”

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As soon as John arrived at the event, screams of joy and incredulity erupted from the crowd of people gathered for the special fan event.

After quickly saying hello to his former castmates Barry Pearl, Didi Conn, Kelly Ward and Michael Tucci, plus the film’s director Randal Kleiser, John addressed the audience as Danny by joking: “LA! I thought you were going back to Australia?”

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“That’s cool, that’s cool, baby. You know, rocking and rolling and whatnot,” he continued to quote, before singing with the fans: “A-womp-bop-a-looma a-womp-bam-boom!”

John then signed off from the event by adding as himself: “Enjoy the show, we love you!”

Last Friday marked the first time the Saturday Night Fever actor appeared as his Grease character since the passing of Olivia Newton-John.

The Sandy actress died of cancer in 2022, aged 73.

John made his first ever re-appearance in character as Danny alongside the beloved actress in December 2019, when the pair dressed up as their characters “for the first time since [making] the movie” at a similar set of sing-a-long events held across Florida.

These meet-and-’Grease’ events followed the pair having reunited a year earlier – not in costume – to celebrate the film’s 40th anniversary.

John’s surprise appearance at last Friday’s show was the second time this month that the A-list actor shocked crowds by appearing unexpectedly at an event.

Just a week before, the singer and actor joined Ringo Starr on stage in Clearwater Florida to perform The Beatles’ iconic ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’.

John Travolta performs with Ringo Starr