Grease

“Grease” was first performed in 1971 and is set in America in 1959 at the fictional “Rydell High School” and is named after the 1950s working class youth subculture known as Greasers. The show has music and lyrics written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey with additional songs written by John Farrar and I am very happy to say that “Chorley Youth Theatre” produced a very good interpretation of this popular lively musical. Directed by Sammi Offord the production was bright, colourful, and full of energy and enthusiasm, the 50 strong cast all worked together appearing to enjoy themselves immensely producing some great characters and good performances. These performances included the talented Ciaran O'Brien as Danny and Rachel Offord as Sandy who both sang and acted excellently, they also worked well together which resulted in the production having two strong central characters who also made a very believable romantic couple. Danny and Sandy are supported by two groups of friends called the T-birds (the boys) and the Pink Ladies (the girls). These important roles were played by Kira Brookfield as Marty, Abigail Sallery as Frenchy, Miranda Entwistle as Jan,Jack McLoughlin as Kenickie, Jack Titherley as Sonny, Declan Cowell as Doody and Lucas Burns as Roger,they  created very different amusing characters performing very well with a great deal of maturity.The role of no nonsense Rizzo was played strongly by Eleanor Anderton who also  exhibited a good powerful singing voice.Other worthy performances  were given by the energetic Lucy McManus as Patty, Owen Pope as Eugene, Scarlett Gorman as Cha-Cha, Andrew Brazier as Vince Fontaine, Rebecca Moran as Mrs Lynch and Joe Mansfield as Teen Angel and Jonny Casino, Joe also had a very pleasant singing voice. American accents where satisfactory but I would like to make a constructive comment here as I did feel that on occasions  some of the cast had a tendency to speak  very quickly which in turn affected diction meaning that clarity of words was a problem at times. However this did not affect my or the audiences enjoyment of the show at all.The large enthusiastic chorus played an important role in this production and along with the principle cast whom they supported very well contributed to the success of this entertaining production
Choreography was by Pearl Williams with Lucy McManus and Charley Burke as dance captains, the moves were dynamic and were just right for the production and were executed very well by the cast. Musical accompaniment was by backing tracks which worked very well for this production and Musical Director Paul Carr should be congratulated on the overall high standard of singing in this show.

The set costumes sound and lighting were all up to the usual high standard that we have come to expect from Chorley Little Theatre, well done to all the backstage crew.

I must congratulate director Sammi Offord, producer Beth Frost and all their production team for a very enjoyable entertaining production, everyone who took part should be very proud of this show. Thank you for inviting me I hope to see you again for your next production.

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