Grease

The story of Grease centres around a group of American High School kids in the 1950’s.

It has clear themes of the complexities of adolescents and also portrays the peer pressure and rebellious streaks of teenage relationships which make up some interesting dynamics. Further themes such as bullying, gang violence and teen pregnancy complete this catchy and popular musical!

At the core of the story, Danny (Charlie Bullock) who is a member of “The Burger Palace Boys” has a summer romance with new school girl Sandy (Katie Bickle). But, when they are back at school, Danny is keen to keep his “bad boy” image alive by not showing his true feelings in front of his mates, which confuses and upsets Sandy.

Apart from some occasional and unfortunate moments throughout the show where diction was lost and on the rare occasion the pace suffered just a little bit, this was an excellently produced show with some amazing talent.

The skilled ensemble through dance and song confirmed that the members of Stourbridge Amateur Operatic Society (SAOS) are a very artistic and enthusiastic bunch of young performers and the most energetic moments came from the full cast taking the stage for the big numbers.

Expert Director and Choreographer Rachel Davies’ vision in producing this well-known musical had moments which were fresh and original. Musical Director, George Stuart led a fine orchestra and the light and sound were very professional. Also well done to The Stage Manager, Margaret Taylor and the backstage crew who completed some big challenges. 

The cast had outstanding American accents which remained extremely consistent.

Charlie Bullock who played the main character of Danny and Katie Bickle who played Sandy were both excellent leads who both had great voices. Charlie seemed at ease with his role with a nice dose of confidence and Katie was perfect in portraying a shy and uncertain new starter at school until finding her confidence at the end.

The Burger Palace Boys included characters such as Doody (Harrison Eno), Roger (George Nicholas), Sonny (Reuben Southall) and Kenickie (James Bishop). They were all excellently cast and all had the right number of moments to shine. They looked like they all had fun with their respective songs which suited their skill and voice. Reuben had a cheeky grin every time he was on stage, it felt like he was always thinking what mischief he could get into!

The Pink Ladies had the right mix of talent with the characters of Rizzo (Sophie Matthews), Frenchy (Esme Lloyd), Marty (Hannah Bramble) and Jan (Neve Pilliner) all played exceptionally well. I especially liked the relationship developing between Jan and Roger and how Neve Pilliner showed some inner monologue with her thought processes. I really liked Sophie Matthews character of Rizzo who owned her song “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”. Also, Rizzo’s reaction when she was caught making fun of Sandy seemed realistic enough to suggest that she did actually care about her after all.

The actors who played the main characters of  “The Burger Palace Boys” and “The Pink Ladies” had great chemistry and banter with plenty of free-spirited respect and love for one another deep down. There were some incredible and playful moments which positively helped drive the show and contributed to moments of effective realism.

I was particularly impressed with James Bishop who played Kenickie. He was very skilful and intuitive.  He held such presence on stage and at times his performance was really spot on! It was incredibly impressive witnessing James portray many subtle layers of his character. One moment which excelled in particular was the look of disapproval Kenickie gave his friend when his date was taken away from him at the high school dance; he tried to show that he didn’t care but his body language and eyes gave him away.

The ensemble of actors all had nice moments. A very animated Patty (Shanya Kulatunge) who I think practically invented “sassy complaining”, Teen Angel (Harry Nicholas) who held his own when he took the stage for his number, Vince Fontaine (Ethan Davies) who is an excellent dancer and had a wonderful personality on stage. Poor Eugene (Reece Boerm) who had some great comedy timing when he tried his luck with the ladies and a special mention to some nice character development with the character of Miss Lynch (Grace Parks).

Well done to all involved. There are too many names to mention! Each and every member of the cast all deserve recognition. I truly mean that!  

Thank you very much for the kind invitation. I had a wonderful evening and I am looking forward to seeing what you do next. This production of Grease was very exciting and entertaining to watch and the atmosphere was great being part of a packed auditorium.   

Congratulations to all.

 

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