Today I donned my favourite 50's style dress, tied a silk scarf around my neck and headed to the Bristol Hippodrome to see Grease. My husband surprised me by coming down the stairs in a white t-shirt and leather jacket, hair slicked back, completely looking the part too. FYI - we were the only people I saw in the whole theatre in "costume". (But luckily our costumes weren't all that conspicuous.)
Listening to the sound track whilst I was getting ready at home, I was reminded of how much I used to listen to the soundtrack of Grease - I had it first on vinyl and then on CD. And I still know every word. So seeing the show live was a bit of a bucket list item for me.
Grease adaptation for stage
The opening beach scenes were a little different to the film but I felt that was to be expected... but the following school scene - the lead up to "Summer loving" - felt beautifully, word-for-word familiar. Which was good, because lots of the dialogue was very fast and some of the accents were very heavy - almost charactertured.
Things soon departed from the film though - with extra songs I'd never heard before, and new passages to existing songs. There were also a lot of songs sung which are on the film soundtrack but which weren't sang by the cast in the film. By that I mean background songs which might have played in the background of the film were now given forefront attention.
These soundtrack songs were usually sung by members of the Pink Ladies or the boys, which meant it really did feel like an ensemble cast. Whilst the main characters of Grease are of course Sandy and Danny, they weren't really on stage - or singing and speaking - more than many of the other cast members. Which was great - we heard some briliiant singing by some people not in "leading" roles. We both commented that Frenchie was brilliant, along with Jan and her beau (perhaps the best chemistry of the show when they sang "Mooning"), and I also liked Marty's rendition of "Freddie My Love". Usually when I review a show I name the actors and link to their instagram, as I did for Frozen, Wicked and Hamilton - but I didn't check the cast list at the theatre today (I always forget) and from looking online, I don't think we saw many of the "official" cast... we certainly didn't see the cast on the official website (with the exception possibly of Joe Gash as Vince Fontane and Teen Angel), and I don't think we saw the touring cast either. Apparently at some shows Jason Donavon plays teen angel with Peter Andre as Vince Fontane! That would be a show to see (if they both appeared at the same time) as our Fontane was a little too stylised / over the top for us, but I did actually really like his version of Teen Angel's "Beauty School Drop Out" - very different to the original and more bordering on a drag cabaret performance than a 50's crooner.
Another big difference to the film is the order of the songs - they're not in the same order as the film, and for example, sometimes they're sung to different people, with Rizzo singing "There are worst things I could do" to Sandy, rather than to Kenickie from a distance (asI think, from memory, she does in the film).
The only downside to the extra songs - especially the soundtrack ones - was that it meant the core story was more diluted. Break aways into songs by the rest of the cast just meant scenes could feel quite isolated and everything didn't "flow" quite as well as in the film. I mentioned earlier there wasn't an awful lot of focus on Danny and Sandy - and as a result, we didn't really get opportunity to feel much chemistry between them. It did feel like they were relying a bit on everyone knowing the story of Grease so they didn't really need to build their narrative very much. There was the dance content, but there wasn't a race with another car.
The scenery was effective with staging being brought on to be different people's houses and a burger bar. Some tall steps - like you'd see around a high school sports ground on American TV for people to sit on - worked really well as a versatile prop. Grease Lightening - the car - was effective with lighting on the wheels and sides giving a good impression of Danny driving it away after he was "stranded at the drive in".
Oh! One MASSIVE thing that was different to the film was that the boys' gang wasn't called the T-Birds! They were the Burger Palace Kings - why did they need to change that?! Is T-Birds offensive in a way I don't realise?
You're the one that I want
A big thing we both commented on was the build up to the "finale" - "You're the one that I want" - as unfortunately we were both quite disappointed with it. I remember this being a huge moment in the film - Danny is walking through the fair ground, in a cardigan, people commenting on his new look. He's going all out to meet Sandy in her world, depsite what his friends say. Then Sandy walks in, picks his chin up off the floor, says "tell me about it, stud", his mates pass him his leather jacket, and they burst into one of the catchiest songs ever. In the musical however, they're in a burger bar, Danny is still wearing his leather jacket, and has previously told Sandy she needs to sort herself out cos she's just not cool (basically). Sandy walks in, everyone is a bit surprised, and they all burst into song together, with various members of the ensemble singing some of the parts which were solos for Danny and Sandy in the film. The small act of Danny not wearing a cardigan in the film (he was wearing a printed shirt under his jacket on stage, but not enough for anyone to comment on his change of attire) makes a massive statement of his feelings for Sandy. For me it's the Romeo and Juliet moment and it's the essence of the film and these 2 characters from differently worlds being reunited. On stage, it just looks like the girl got told she had to do what the guy wanted and look hot. But it was more than that - on stage her entrance wasn't that big a deal, and everything was quite full and busy and there just wasn't, somehow, enough emphasis on this pivotal moment. I guess it was partly because we weren't feeling much chemistry between them. Different lighting could have helped here - Sandy should have had more of an entrance. (I also felt lighting could have helped when they were having the dance off as at times couples were talking and you didn't know where to look, whereas a spotlight would have made this much clearer.)
Overall, I'm glad I've seen Grease on stage, and if you love the songs they you should see it and soak in the music, but be prepared for it to be different to the film. As a show, it isn't one I've come away raving about like the ones cited above.
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