Grease - The Musical

WOW! Spotlight has another well-deserved smash hit on its hands, and an already sold out season of Grease. That makes anything I say superfluous, but I’m going to say it anyway because this stunning community theatre company deserves buckets of accolades for the consistency of its commitment to pure entertainment.

There can’t be anyone on the planet who hasn’t seen the movie Grease, but seeing it on stage is a totally different experience.

The production is full of fabulous voices, with brilliant vocal direction by the amazingly talented Shari Willner. Jess Ng’s choreography is fast and furious and beautifully executed. Most of the audience would not know that The Twist, The Frug and so many other dance styles referenced in the chorry are dances from the sixties, and we’re in Rydell High in 1959. I was in High School myself in that year and we were still jiving. But Jess Ng’s small liberty with time makes for a far more interesting production. Bravo.

The cast is, as always, gob-smackingly good. Portia Morris is perfect as Sandy, with the right degree of naivety and a super voice. There’s a lovely moment in “Hopelessly Devoted To You” where Portia sings and Olivia Newton John appears on the screen in the same clip from the film, and is lip synced with the live Sandy. A poignant tribute.

Matt Domingo as Danny took some time to hit his straps on opening night, but by the second act he was really firing and made Danny his own, rather than a Travolta copy. Clay English makes a brilliant Kenichie. If the show seemed a little tentative at first, it exploded into life when English brought Greased Lightning to the stage. What a pity the car itself was a disappointment and was not replicated in the final number in restored glory, but I did love the number-plate PSY WGN (say it out loud).

Isabella Wiesenthal does a brilliant job vocally as Rizzo, though the character is a little darker (intentionally) than we are used to seeing. Tiahni Wilton does a spectacular job on the helium voiced Frenchie and Greyson Vaughn is definitely a performer to watch in the future. A great voice and already oodles of stage presence. Kudos to the rest of the cast for their terrific work.

I am a big fan of Dean Giltinan. He is super-talented and charisma on legs. But when he made his entrance as Teen Angel all I could think was “WHY?” I won’t be a spoiler but this was about as far away from what Frenchie’s imaginary guardian Angel would be as you could possibly get…and not even on the edge of the radar in 1959. Don’t misunderstand. I LOVED the performance but hated the whole concept - it trashed the period of the show and the character of Frenchie for one big laugh.

The black box set is versatile…but it does suck the light so that at times the show seemed underlit. A couple of manned follow spots would have helped. I loved the staircase and the slide, though perhaps they could have had more use. I was longing for the transformed Sandy to make her entrance at the top of the stairs, slide down the slide and THEN put on those high stilettos, so she didn’t break her neck.

Director Josh McCann Thomson has pursued a darker vision of Grease, and tried to get away from the inevitable criticism of the show that Sandy changes herself just for Danny. He’s made a valiant attempt to make it about female empowerment to justify what seems outrageous now; but the truth is that no such thing existed in 1959. Sandy goes from nice girl to tart just to get the boy…and that’s how it was 63 years ago (and still is in some respects). Perhaps the answer is to push more on the changes that Danny makes to get Sandy - make it a more even exchange but, when you have a show set in the fifties or sixties, you either go with the writer’s intent, or send it up mercilessly for the antiquated philosophy it was (is). It’s a challenge for an exciting young director like Josh.

Quibbles aside, the audience loved every moment and this is just the holiday fare we need. But please, give programme credit to the writers of the three most famous songs…which were NOT part of the show score.

“You’re The One That I Want” and “Hopelessly Devoted to You” were written by John Farrar and “Grease” is a Barry Gibb song.

If you’ve never seen Grease, you really should. It’s iconic, and hugely entertaining.

You’ll be lucky to get a ticket but, if you can, you’ll have a great night as always at Spotlight.

Coral Drouyn