Grease

I had the pleasure of attending The Lyric Club’s production of Grease on opening night. From the very beginning, the show brought energy and vitality to the theatre. It quickly became obvious that this cast had been working hard over the past several months, coming together as a team as well as individually in their own right, to bring a solid performance to the stage.

Chloe Minto portrayed the innocent role of Sandy throughout and the dramatic change into “You’re the One That I Want” was well executed.  The chemistry between sandy and Danny (Jamie Morrison), was apparent from the beginning. Both Jamie and Chloe played out their own stories to their teen groups, Danny giving an exaggerated story of the relationship, while Sandy kept her real thoughts on the romantic side to the summer love affair.

In each of the gangs, the characters had their own story to tell, and each of them was portrayed admorably. Frenchy, played by Jen McGuire, laments at what to do with her life after dropping out of beauty school. Mooning, by Brendan Casey playing the role of Roger Rump, kept the audience well entertained. A particular highlight in “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” by Rizzo, (Marie-Anne McGrattan), brought a solid powerful performance showing emotional balance.

The show could not be complete without an extremely high energy and talented ensemble. Choreography by Lynne Bustard was slick and precise, and it was easy to see the amount of detail and work that had gone into the rehearsals.

It is always an undertaking to ensure a production of this scale is well planned and organized. Under the capable artistic direction of Alan C. Jones the show ran smoothly, with dramatic light and shade showing through the many characters and scenes. David Fisher led a tight band with excellent communication between the pit and the stage. Click track was used to enhance some of the musical performance in the show. However, the use of click track for all the ensemble numbers would have given a stronger balance of sound.

No show runs fully smoothly without the trusted stage crew, and credit must go to both The Lyric Club crew under the stage management of Stuart Poole and The King’s Theatre stage crew who ensured that scenes ran effortlessly into each other. It just leaves me to congratulate the entire team at The Lyric Club including the tireless work of Graeme Southwood, club president, his committee and professional team who brought this energetic show to the stage.

Rydell High gets an A + from me!

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