Grease

A rockin’ band, in all senses, led by musical director Anthony Cutrupi, support a cast of excellent singers, ensuring that this live, and lively, incarnation of the Grease soundtrack is a real crowd pleaser. Favourite songs from the film replace several original numbers in the current hybrid version of the musical.

Eye-catching costumes by Elle Cantor, and some lively, frequently imaginative choreography by Kim Dresner, set against the smart black and white check set, evoking a classic 50s diner, further ensure that the iconic musical numbers delight the audience.

Vocal highlights are shared around a capable cast. Carolyn Reed (Sandy) tugs at the heartstrings with ‘Hopelessly Devoted’, Laura Dawson (Rizzo) displays both comic and dramatic flair with ‘Sandra Dee’ and ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’, while Katya Triantis (Marty) nails ‘Freddy My Love’. Jay Cullen (Danny), Jake Buratti (Kenickie), Christopher O’Shea (Doody) Martin Everett (Johnny Casino) and Sam Ducker (Teen Angel) do justice to ‘Sandy’, ‘Greased Lightning’, ‘Those Magic Changes’, ‘Born to Handjive’ and ‘Beauty School Dropout’ respectively.

Eamon Moses (Roger) and Kaleigh Wilkie-Smith (Jan – also the director) share a touchingly comedic ‘Mooning’.

Amongst those who don’t get a song, Stephanie Edmonds is an engagingly ditzy Frenchy; Callum McKean is a cheeky Sonny; Boronia Clark has the requisite perkiness as Patty; Callum Dolmeny is an aptly nerdish Eugene; Kristin Kok is utterly school-marmish as Miss Lynch; Harriet Bridges-Webb’s Cha Cha is suitably obnoxious and Michael Smith oozes sleeze as Vince.

At just over two hours, including interval, this is a very brisk Grease, especially when you consider there are more than 20 songs. Using minimal props on the previously mentioned single set, the many scene changes flow effectively.

Director Kaleigh Wilkie-Smith merits praise for digging for some of the darker qualities of the original show.

Cast members establish their characters with heaps of attitude and physicalized teen angst, but dialogue is thin on the ground in a now wafer-thin script, so my main disappointment is that lines were sometimes rushed, at the expense of nuance and the brief vignettes where relationships have to be developed. The odd prop, too, needed to be sourced with more attention to detail.

Still, audience members (sometimes including this jaded old reviewer) bopping happily along to the iconic songs, just going with the flow, was the spontaneous critique to Manly’s Grease on Sunday afternoon.

Neil Litchfield