In February 1997, due to his mother's serious illness, Frangoulis returned to Greece. There he joined Athens' theatrical scene, notably through his playing Billy Kracker in Kurt Weill's "Happy End" with the Karolos Koun Art Theater, directed by George Lazanis, the Lead Bird in Aristophanes' comedy "The Birds", directed once more by George Lazanis which was performed in almost every major ancient amphitheater of Greece, such as Epidaurus, Sparta, Filippoi and many more. In September 1997 he was offered the leading role of Danny Zouko in the musical "Grease", directed by David Gilmore. Once more, it was a great success with the Greek media and a great start of Frangoulis's popularity with the Greek public. The same season, he appeared in late night shows in the prestigious music hall "Iera Odos", alongside the Greek star George Dalaras, singing popular Greek, Italian and Spanish songs. This production toured Greece and Europe as well (London, Paris, Brussels, Helsinki, Munchen, Berlin, and Frankfurt) very successfully and it turned out to be the best-selling CD (by EMI Greece), which soon after went platinum. Representatives of Sony Music heard Frangoulis in one of these shows and they arranged him to be introduced to Peter Gelb, the head of Sony Classical. The result of this introduction was, the signing of an exclusive contract for 2 CDs and 3 CDs optional, enabling Frangoulis to start an international recording career at the highest level.