Grease Live! caused some confusion for fans of the 1978 movie when it was revealed that Sandy was from Salt Lake City, Utah — not Australia. Don't panic, Greasers, it's OK that this Sandy doesn't have an Aussie accent since in the stage version of the show, she's not Australian. The reason for Sandy's accent in Grease the movie was all a matter of casting. The Australian Olivia Newton-John famously portrayed Sandy opposite of John Travolta's Danny in the film, so she kept her accent for the film. In the Broadway show, Sandy is the new girl, but she's not from the Outback. So, it wasn't surprising that the American Julianne Hough kept it from the good ole U.S. of A.
Adorably enough, Grease Live! did borrow from the movie's idea of having Sandy come from the same place that the actress is from since Hough was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hough was perfectly cast as Sandy and it works that she is the all-American, 1950s cheerleader. So, even if you were sad that Hough didn't go for an accent, she kept it more true to the stage show. Although, if Hough had wanted to experiment with an accent, she could have gone with British since she moved to London when she was 10 years old. However, I have no idea how Twitter would have reacted to a British Sandy.
Image: Michael Becker/FOX
