Another day, another dollar, another opening night at the glorious Civic. [Actually with the hours I'm working at the moment, one dollar seems quite an accurate valuation of my current wage. Plus opening nights at the Civic are far too rare, and in no way tied to my paltry dollars so pretty much just ignore that wee introduction. I digress!]
Having unsuccessfully scoured the lyrics for a less trite, clichéd introductory line I'm going to go with the old favourite... Grease is the word!
The most successful movie-musical of all time is back on the stage and bursting at the seams with laughs, energy and catchy tunes.
There's a catch though - to fully enjoy it you need to leave some of your preconceived ideas about the characters behind. It's tough to take such an iconic film with dozens of memorable roles and not draw comparisons between the on-stage cast and John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Frankie Avalon.
The actors and production team have tried to create their own unique takes on these roles and characters. A good thing for sure. If they didn't then they'd basically be copy-cat-ing and who wants to see a weaker, watered-down, mimic of some pretty fun characters?! If you can embrace these new characters you'll have an absolute blast.
Beauty School Dropout is perhaps the most changed of all the songs and by gum was it impressive. Disgustingly well looked-after Frankie Avalon with his slightly orange skin, pearly whites and trim frame has been replaced by a beautiful big black diva belting out those high-notes and surging through the rises which that wvroomph that comes from deep within. That song is completely transformed in pitch, tempo and feel, and is a great example of how a re-working from the film version of the song can rock your socks off, and take nothing away from the one you remember and love.
But it's not only our diva'd out angel who can sing, all of the cast are impressive vocally and manage to capture that 50's squeak in the voice. All turn in excellent performances too, comic and endearing, alluding to, changing, but also adding to, those performances we've all seen so many times on DVD.
The production values are top-shelf with brilliant, colourful sets that range from bed rooms to gyms, diners to schools. There's an actual Greased Lighting car which explodes onto stage. For crying out loud - they even keep a 7-piece band in bright shimmery pink suits in the ceiling! The costumes are also excellent, so much so that I considered trying to get hold of a sweater-vest after the show.
Most important was that I didn't stop smiling for two and a half hours. I got chills. They multiplied. Eventually I lost control and sang to the lady next to me ('Oh Sandy' become 'Oh Wendy').
Grease is a brilliant night out and I highly recommend getting yourself a ticket! Usually a shy and retiring, reticent personality, I left unable to stop shaking my groove thing and singing at a socially unacceptable level. No one seemed to mind.
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Five pink ladies!
PS - All of a sudden I'm ridiculously excited by the prospect of this:
