"Grease," presented by The Covey Theater Company, runs from July 26 to Aug. 11, 2024. (Courtesy of Amelia Beamish of AB Photography) Courtesy of Amelia Beamish How nostalgic are you about Syracuse circa 2011? Have you ever said, “Those were the days”? Hold onto that thought as we look at the musical “Grease.
” Only thirteen years separate 1958 — the setting for “Grease” — from the show’s 1971 Chicago opening. Its ten high school kids — working class, Polish, Italian — were so raunchy, the original production had an R-rating. Subsequently sanitized for its 1972 Broadway debut, it was so squeaky-clean as a 1978 film that you may be forgiven your reaction of “Grease? Yeah, I hate that show.
” Covey Theater Company artistic director and show director Garrett Heater gets it. When “Grease” was announced as its summer musical, “the response we received from both potential patrons and potential actors was polarizing: people either seemed to love the musical or hate it .” Plus (okay Boomers, brace yourselves) the events are 75 years old.
Covey’s “Grease” shouldn’t work — and yet it does, surprisingly and marvelously so, especially for haters like me. To borrow from two of the show’s biggest numbers, it moves like “Greased Lightning” as it provides a “Summer Nights” worth of bang-for-the-buck entertainment for Syracuse theatergoers. "Grease," presented by The Covey Theater Company, runs from July 26 to Aug.
11, 2024. (Courtesy of Amelia Beamish of AB Photography) Courtesy of Amelia Beamish Why does it work? Beyond the odd nostalgia that so many of us have for the 1950s? Most musicals are two hours of let’s wait for the leads to sing the big hits, and if they do really well, it’s worth it to sit through the boring songs. That’s why the 1978 film ruined the 1972 Broadway musical.
The movie was a movie star/pop star vehicle, centering John Travolta’s Danny and inexplicably turning not-really-an-actor Olivia Newton-John’s Sandy into an Australian exchange student. Even worse, Danny’s T-Birds and Sandy’s mean-girl ‘friends’ the Pink Ladies were simply glorified sidekicks. In comparison, the stage musical “Grease” is an ensemble show, spreading the hits evenly, returning the T-Birds to their original Burger Palace Boys rat-pack roles, and individuating each character with recognizable specificity.
Likewise, Danny (Joe Gauzza) and Sandy (Chelsea Colton) are less stereotypes, more typical and normalized. Gauzza interprets Danny as sweeter and fresh-faced; he’s a kid who garners attention, but he’s still puzzling out a social status thrust upon him more for his good looks than his arrogance or leadership. His warm voice melts hearts in the poignant “Sandy.
” Colton plays Sandy with a more authentic approach to character: awkward, insecure, trying hard to fit in as a goody two-shoes among stiletto heels. Her wistful “Hopelessly Devoted to You” is less a power pop ballad than an aching cry of first love. "Grease," presented by The Covey Theater Company, runs from July 26 to Aug.
11, 2024. (Courtesy of Amelia Beamish of AB Photography) Courtesy of Amelia Beamish In the Burger Palace Boys, Jack McAuliff’s brash, blustery Kenickie channels the working-class tough’s fantasy that hot wheels and a hot chick will solve all his problems — his “Greased Lightning” is a lightning-in-a-bottle moment — but he pivots to incredible tenderness at a crucial moment near the end. In the role of Roger, nicknamed Rump for his fearless ‘full moon’ shenanigans, Covey ensemble regular Derek Greabell is almost unrecognizable under his hyper-machismo swagger; he kills it as a buffoon in “Mooning” and as a crooner in “Rock and Roll Party Queen.
” Kevin Castro throws himself wholeheartedly into playing skinny, weaselly Sonny as haplessly suave while striking out with the ladies, and bravely bares it all in a jaw-dropping balcony scene. And CNY theater stalwart Kilian Crowley works his trademark sunny stage presence to full advantage in the role of Doody. His musicianship in “Those Magic Changes” and “Sandy” begs the question: who’ll be the first CNY theater company to build a production of “Million Dollar Quartet” around him? In the Pink Ladies, Camille Millar is a vocally and visually perfect Marty, a teenage femme fatale who demonstrates the quid pro quo of love through her show-stopping “Freddy My Love.
” Jessie Dobrzynski’s good-hearted, bubble-headed Frenchy endures many wig changes, culminating in the eye-popping “Beauty School Dropout,” an all-out sequined, sparkly production number in which her powerful vocal chops are matched by her Teen Angel, velvet-voiced Bryan Straub. Maddie Deshaises’s ravenous Jan, trolling for coleslaw, Twinkies, and male attention, is a flawless foil to Greabell’s comedic Roger in “Mooning.” And finally, long before the musical “Mean Girls” made Regina George the Queen Bee of the Plastics, “Grease” established Rizzo as a before-her-time figure in the mean girl pantheon.
Bianca Hallett’s connivingly cool Rizzo doesn’t bother to mask her joy in humiliating the nicey new girl in her fake friendship with Sandy; and while she’s strong in her first solo, “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” she saves the full Category 5 hurricane force of her American Idol voice for “There are Worse Things I Can Do.” In the roles of They-Do-Annoying-Well, Gilly Walker-Matthews’s Patty Simcox is the superachiever everyone loves to hate; Shane Stensland’s nerdy, all-elbows-and-glasses Eugene begs to be tripped; Emmilly Budge’s Cha-Cha is both pushy and fabulous; CJ Roche plays slimy Vince Fontaine as the Grandfather of Roofies; and Judy Schmid is terrifying as Miss Lynch, the educator-equivalent of the fire drill alarm. Music director Dan Williams — also doubling as Johnny Casino — splendidly leads a rocking six-person orchestra tucked into a second-story balcony, giving choreographer Amanda Kurey maximum space to work magic on “Born to Hand-Jive,” “Summer Nights,” “We Go Together” and the big closing number, “You’re the One That I Want.
” The original “Grease” — with book, music, and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey — drew on Jacobs’s experiences at William Taft High School in Chicago, even using the names of people he knew. The social issues that were shocking at the time — teenage pregnancy, smoking, underage drinking, hubcap theft — seem quaint today. Maybe that’s why there’s such strong nostalgia for the 1950s, although that impulse has been part of the American zeitgeist since the ABC-TV sitcom “Happy Days” (which first aired in 1974) and George Lucas’s 1973 film “American Graffiti” (in his pre-Star Wars years).
Still, by returning to its working class Polish Italian characters, Covey makes America “Grease” again by bridging political, economic, and social divides in a production that entertains across the generations and the aisles. The Details What: “Grease” by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey Where: The Covey Theater Company, BeVard Studio at the Oncenter When seen: Opening night July 26 Length of performance: 2 hours 20 minutes including a 20-minute intermission Family guide: Ages 13 and up Runs through: August 11 Information and Tickets: coveytheater.com.
