Grease (musical)

Grease is a popular musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. A film version was made in 1978 starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

The musical is based around some of the subcultures of 1950s High school America, including the "tough guy" working-class greasers from which the musical takes its name. The musical takes place at fictional Rydell High and the Chicago, Illinois in which it is located. Some of the social issues featured in the musical are teenage pregnancy and gang violence; its themes include love, friendship, rebellion and sexual exploration during adolescence, and, to some degree, class consciousness/class conflict.

When the show opened on Broadway in 1972, it was nominated for seven Tony Awards; the 1994 revival was nominated for three. 2003, Grease was voted Best Musical of All-Time in a Channel 4 poll.

A darker, harder-edged portrayal of some of the same subcultures (though slightly later) can be found in S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders. Other dramatic portrayals include the classic James Dean movie, "Rebel Without A Cause", and the 1957 musical West Side Story.

Synopsis

The show is set in the late 1950s, in and around Rydell High School as the students return after the summer vacation.

The boys (Danny Zuko, Kenickie, Roger, Sonny LaTierri, and Doody) are members of the "Burger Palace Boys", a Greaser clique. The girls form the "Pink Ladies" (Betty Rizzo, Jan, Marty, Frenchy).

One of the group, Danny Zuko, returns telling of a girl that he met over the summer, only to find that the girl in question, Sandy Dumbrowski, has been transferred to Rydell High from the more innocent surroundings of Immaculata High.

Danny, not wanting to look weak in front of his friends, plays their relationship off as a fling when she approaches him one day at school. Sandy, heartbroken, tries to get him back. (A subplot, which was omitted from the production when the musical moved to Broadway, was a crush on Danny by Patty, inciting competition from Sandy. This was touched upon very briefly in the film version.)

Later, there is a "National Bandstand" (from "American Bandstand") live, nationally-televised dance competition from Rydell High, which Danny wins by doing the hand jive. The competition's M.C. is Vince Fontaine (compare with Dick Clark). There is also a drag race featuring the show's famous hot rod, "Greased Lightning".

Songs

Act I

1. Alma Mater - Miss Lynch, Patty, and Eugene
2. Alma Mater Parody - Pink Ladies and Burger Palace Boys
3. Summer Nights - Sandy and Danny, Pink Ladies, and Burger Palace Boys
4. Those Magic Changes - Doody, Burger Palace Boys, and Pink Ladies
5. Freddy, My Love - Marty and Pink Ladies
6. Greased Lightnin' - Kenickie and Burger Palace Boys
7. Mooning - Roger and Jan
8. Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee - Rizzo
9. We Go Together - Pink Ladies and Burger Palace Boys

Act II

1. Shakin' at the High School Hop - Entire Company
2. It's Raining on Prom Night - Sandy and offstage radio voice
3. Shakin' at the High School Hop (Reprise) - Entire Company
4. Born to Hand-Jive - Johnny Casino and Company
5. Beauty School Dropout - Teen Angel, Frenchie, and Choir
6. Alone at a Drive-In Movie - Danny and Burger Palace Boys
7. Rock 'N' Roll Party Queen - Doody and Roger
8. There Are Worse Things I Could Do - Rizzo
9. Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee (Reprise) - Sandy
10. All Choked Up - Sandy and Danny, Pink Ladies, and Burger Palace Boys
11. We Go Together (Reprise) - Entire Company

Stage productions

The musical Grease originally opened as a five hour production staged in a garage with an all amateur cast in Chicago. Despite these fairly shaky beginnings, Grease had huge success and sold out tickets in Chicago. This was enough to catch the eye of Broadway producers Ken Waissman and Maxine Fox. They persuaded Jacobs and Casey to move to New York and bring their show with them.

In New York, Grease was reduced to two hours and opened at Eden Theatre just off of Broadway on February 14, 1972, starring Barry Bostwick as Danny Zuko, and Carole Demas as Sandy Dumbrowski. Also in the cast was Adrienne Barbeau as Rizzo. Instantly popular with the public, the critics remained unimpressed, and the Tony Awards committee ruled that Grease was ineligible for nomination because the theatre was several blocks away from Broadway itself. The producers threatened to sue the committee, which soon backed down and it was nominated for 9 Tonys, including Best Musical. It ran for 3388 performances in four different theatres, most notably the Royale Theatre on Broadway where it remained from November 1972 until January 1980, only three months before it closed for good. Its eight year run was a musicals record until overtaken by A Chorus Line.

When it reopened, the role of Danny was taken by the then-unknown actor Richard Gere, with Stacey Gregg as Sandy. They were later replaced by Paul Nicholas and Elaine Paige.

Its revival began in London in 1993, when a new version opened starring Craig McLachlan and Deborah Gibson in the main roles. The UK production is now a perennial favourite with audiences of all ages and has gone on many nationwide tours. The role of Danny was also played during this time by Shane Richie, Ian Kelsey and Luke Goss.

The revival production in New York began in 1994 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre and ran for four years, starring Ricky Paull Goldin as Danny, Susan Wood as Sandy, Rosie O'Donnell as Rizzo, and a pre Will & Grace Megan Mullally as Marty (one of the "Pink Ladies") . During this time it picked up three Tony Award nominations, again all unsuccessful. In 1995 Brooke Shields won the Theatre World Special Award for her role as Rizzo, after following such stars as Jody Watley, Lucy Lawless, Linda Blair, Debby Boone, Sheena Easton, Joely Fisher, Deborah Gibson, Jasmine Guy, and Mackenzie Phillips in the role.

Grease - The Arena Spectacular toured Australian stadiums in 1998/99 starring Dannii Minogue, Craig McLachlan, Jane Scali and Tottie Goldsmith.

In 2003 American pop star and film actor Rikki Lee Travolta became the first member of the Travolta entertainment family since John Travolta to star as Danny Zuko. He guest starred in four performances to raise money to fund fine arts programs for underprivileged youths. Ironically he had turned down an offer from director/choreographer Jeff Calhoun to appear in the 1994 Broadway revival.

As far as school and community productions go, Grease is unpopular due to its coarse language and themes. It was usually abriged by those who wanted to do it. There is however an official cleaned out "school version" avalible with all of the language and vulgar themes removed and the musical re-edited to suit it as a more "G" rated production.

Alumni

Famous actors who have appeared in Grease include:

Danny Zuko: John Travolta, Richard Gere, Treat Williams, Patrick Swayze, Rikki Lee Travolta, Adrian Zmed, Rex Smith, Ricky Paull Goldin

Sandy: Olivia Newton John, Debbie Gibson, Dannii Minogue

Rizzo: Stockard Channing, Lucy Lawless, Rosie O'Donnell, Debbie Gibson, Danica McKellar, Linda Blair, Debby Boone, Sheena Easton, Joely Fisher, Deborah Gibson, Jasmine Guy, Mackenzie Phillips, Jody Watley, Brooke Shields

Teen Angel: Frankie Avalon, Donny Most, Davey Jones, Jeff Conaway, Peter Scolari, Eddie Mekka, Chubby Checker

See also

• Grease, the film version
• Broadway theatre and West End theatre
• Youth culture

External links

• "Grease" the West End production home page
• "Grease" at Internet Broadway Database