Grease is the word- and word on the street is that this musical play is worth a watch. A recreation of the film we all know and love, a rendition of the soundtrack we all stayed up listening to at sleepovers, fond memories and a talented cast to reignite them just go together like Rama lama lama ka dingity da dinga dong.
Grease follows the story of summer lovers Danny and Sandy meeting again in high school. Tragically, instead of continuing the cute romance, Danny finds himself embarrassed and afraid to act vulnerable with her. Sandy also finds herself caught up in a new world where her new companions, the Pink Ladies, start to push her to let loose- smoke, drink and get with the guys, a world she finds incredibly difficult to navigate. Throughout this, Danny attempts to change with little progress. Tensions between his gang, The Burger Palace Boys, and the Pink Ladies rise as everyone struggles to admit their feelings for each other, causing drama and conflict at every corner.
The play, of course, includes some of the most iconic songs from the film. After all, it wouldn’t be Grease without timeless classics like Summer Nights, You’re the One That I Want, and We Go Together. The performing for these pieces is absolutely stunning, but some particular ones stick out. Greased Lightning shows off Kenickie (George Michaelides) and the Burger Palace Boys jumping on top of a moving car and dancing a full routine on the bonnet, ending with sparks literally flying. Pink feathers flutter round Frenchy as she receives an intense makeover in Beauty School Dropout. Naturally, my favourite is Hopelessly Devoted to You, one of the simpler ones, yet the most effective. Sandy (Hope Dawe) steals the limelight in an incredible display of emotion. She perfectly hits every note and the hearts of everyone in the audience who finds themselves singing away the pain after a breakup (happens to the best of us).
The narrative touches on quite a few interesting topics, such as the teenage obsession with sex following the sexual revolution of rock ‘n’ roll. This provides some comical moments from Sonny (Sario Solomon) as he clashes with Miss Lynch and even starts furiously humping the gym equipment, to the horror of his peers. Maybe this was a deliberate decision, but I find that aside from a few moments like this, the Burger Palace Boys are not very developed as characters, especially in comparison to the Pink Ladies. It is delightfully easy to distinguish between sassy Rizzo, wholesome Jan, sophisticated Marty and sweet Frenchy even before they speak, whereas with the boys, (excluding Zuko) it often feels like they are all the same character. The women are all phenomenal, but Rizzo (Imogen Malone) steals the show with “There are Worst Things I could do”, showing off her complex personality. We are left finding ourselves angry at her for judging Sandy for not having much experience with boys, whilst also feeling sorry for her reputation all at once, whilst impressed for her incredible performance, giving her a level of depth and understanding.
The choreography is also absolutely brilliant. It would be criminal not to mention the Hand Jive at the school dance, mixing between perfectly synchronised pieces and dances full of quirks reflecting their characters perfectly. Choreographer Arlene Phillips really captures the subtleties of each character within these dance moves, which makes the whole number far more enjoyable, even when they fall rather impressively onto the floor.
The only thing I would say that put a bit of a downer on the show is the ending. It seemed rather sharpish. Danny had shown very little improvements and in fact admitted he was falling back into his own ways, accepting that it was the end for him and Sandy. Similarly, Kenickie is behaving awfully to Rizzo. Then suddenly, Sandy shows up in a new outfit, Rizzo isn’t pregnant, and everything is magically fixed. Whilst I appreciate that many recreations of older media attempting to appease modern standards often end up disastrous, (and usually more offensive,) I do feel like Danny and Kenickie could have had some sort of could have put in some sort of effort rather than Sandy and Rizzo abruptly changing for them. Regardless, Sandy looks absolutely beautiful, and the finale is as iconic as and timeless as it ever was.
Overall, the entire play directed by Nikolai Foster (originally for Curve) is a beautiful trip down memory lane for many. The actors are able to let shine their talents without being failed by an unfortunate script. It also doesn’t fall into the easy trap of being either a complete rip off of the movie or trying too hard to be different. It holds a perfect balance with touches of the new and the original. I would rate this musical play very highly, mostly due to the talent of the actors, but also the impressive gimmicks, lighting, and character quirks that made this show so well rounded.
Grease runs at Royal and Derngate until Saturday 18th May.
Photo credits: Marc Brenner
