Grease

Seldom performed and such a pity as this iconic musical of the 1950’s and it’s music has great appeal for older teens, and this showed with good houses every performance and enthusiastic audiences who really were into this musical.

There is no doubt about it that this musical hinges on Danny Zuko and Sandra Dee and Ewan Beard the excellent cool dude full of attitude and with great dance moves and Astrid Westerlund really pulled it off, they had great chemistry together and Astrid played the quiet one well and then she came alive and shone with her change of character that we all love to see. Her vocals were perfect throughout and full of emotion in Totally Devoted To You.  Summer Nights from Danny and Sandy was outstanding and Greased Lightenin' from Zach Shepherd and Chorus was a great hit with the audience

Opening with Rydel High School Choir in good voice and an address from their Principal Miss Lynch, very well played by Lexi Lowe with perfect diction and command of the stage.

Grease is the Word lit up the stage with well paced swift moves for this cast of cool guys and pink ladies. This was a large cast of very talented youngsters who all were having a fantastic time as these characters, and obviously enjoyed being part of Grease and the precision moves in all their numbers.

This is basically a love story and it is great to see the emerging attraction the two leads have for each other and the cool interaction of Danny’s gang with fabulous mannerisms and the Pink Ladies and the whole cast Full of many non PC pieces of dialogue unacceptable in today’s world yet this was back in the day in the 1950’s, things change with time. the dialogue with Rizzo for example would be frowned on then, yet today we accept its part of life. Leila Martine gave a special performance as Rizzo her number ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’ was so full of emotion.

Strong backing came from Laurence Regan as Doody, a natural on stage, and a showstopper from Amelia Bartlett-Smith as Frenchy, wow, full of confidence and a very good characterisation.

Brilliant starlight scene of Beauty School Dropout with great vocals from Rowan Jenkins.

Another star performer is Polly James well done on ‘Born To Hand Jive’

Both casts were equally talented and gave great performances.

With many small scenes creating the story it proved a challenge for the back stage crew.

Nothing brings this show alive more than a great band and with exceptional MD Ruth Friend and these talented skilled musicians and their control and pace never outshining those on stage each musician blending together. They were amazing.

Congratulations Andrew Griffiths stage director and all the choreographers and those involved on this very successful production, and thank you for your kind hospitality.

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