The current
show at Little Theatre of Fall River is the hit
1950's musical, "Grease". It opened off Broadway on
February 14, 1972 and ran 128 performances before
moving to Broadway to run for 3,388 record breaking
performances, closing April 11, 1980. The show was
made into a very successful movie version in
1978 starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
The audience is welcomed back to the reunion
of Rydell High School's class of 1959. Miss Lynch,
the English teacher wants everyone to celebrate the
high spirited days of gum chewing, hot rod loving
boys with D.A.'s and their wise cracking girls in
their poodle skirts, bobby sox and pedal pushers.
This version is directed by Deb Sadler, musical
direction by Robert Perry and choreography by Janice
MacDonald, Jeff Belanger and Alex Cruz. The show is
high energy from opening to closing with a talented
cast of 30.
Deb directs
and blocks the show wonderfully and has her cast
utilize every inch of the two story set designed by
Shawn Elliot. She has Miss Lynch, Eugene and Patty
open the show with "Alma Mater" in present day and
then back in 1959, has the cast sing and dance to
"Grease Is The Word" from the movie. Deb uses three
other songs from the movie and eliminates two weak
ones from the original show "Alone at the Drive-In
Movie" and "All Shook Up" with neither one of them
being missed. The vocal prowess of this cast is
marvelous and their exuberant dance numbers stopped
the show with expert execution by this hard working
cast. The 1950's style dances shine in this show in
many numbers including "Hand Jive", "Shakin at the
High School Hop" with flips and tumbles. The five
member orchestra is on top of the two story set and
they are topnotch especially the sax solo in "Worse
Things I Could Do". Stage manager Maryann Goulart
keeps things running smoothly all night long. Even
though the stage version is more of an ensemble
piece than the movie, the two leads light up the
stage with their talent.
The head
hoodlum, Danny Zuko is fantastically played by Bobby
Sylvia. He captures the true essence of the 1950's
character as Danny. Bobby shows off his splendid
voice in "Summer Nights" where he and Sandy sing a
duet about how they met with differing versions sung
by each of them) in "Sandy" when he is left alone at
the drive-in (this song shows off his vocal range)
and in the closing duet "You're the One That I
Want". Some of his funniest scenes include when
Sandy slams the door on him at the drive-in, when he
lights up a cigarette while trying to win a race.
Gorgeous brunette Samantha Johnson plays Danny's
sweet girlfriend, Sandy. She makes the transition
from wholesome girl to trashy Pink lady with ease at
the close of the show , She contemplates this while
she sings "Sandra Dee" reprise. Since it is a
musical comedy, the message to change yourself to be
accepted by others should be viewed in that context
but not in real life. Samantha's voice soars in the
poignant "Hopelessly Devoted" and in the closing
duet "You're The One That I Want" with Bobby. She
also sings the touching "It's Raining on Prom Night"
and does a great job with a part from the original
show that wasn't as fleshed out as some of the
others. She and Bobby excel in all their dances,
too.
The
hard hearted leader of the Pink Ladies, Betty Rizzo
is played wonderfully by Jessalyn Sadler Correa who
played Belle last year. She dances up a storm and
shows her acting range in the comic and dramatic
moments in this show. The comic moments include her
many one liners and put downs of those around her
and making fun of Sandy in the comic version of
"Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee". Rizzo's softer side
emerges in my favorite song in the show, There Are
Worse Things I Could Do" where she ponders her
plight of possibly being pregnant. Rizzo's hoodlum
boyfriend Kenickie is wonderfully played by Marc
Jaillet. He swaggers about the stage in character
and does topnotch work on his solo "Greased
Lightning" where he and the boys dance all over the
stage and on a real car.
Their
friends are well portrayed, too. Statuesque Lynne
Corriveau plays the sexy Marty who is in love with a
marine. She belts out "Freddy My Love" while the
girls back her up like the Supremes. Erica Borges is
dynamite as Jan who is constantly eating, especially
twinkies, cole slaw and other people's lunches and
Greg Silver plays Roger who is called rump because
he likes to moon people. Their duet "Mooning" is
hilarious. "Rock N Roll Party Queen" is sung by
Roger and Doody. The gang pants' Roger in the rumble
scene. Tyler Indyck plays the nervous Doody
marvelously who gets to belt out his big
number,"Magic Changes" while strumming a guitar.
Sonny, the school mooch and cad is well played by
Cory Santos. The school bubblehead, Frenchy who
drops out of school to go to beauty school is played
by Maeve Donnelly who makes this dumb girl very
funny. One of the funniest moments comes when Teen
Angel descends on Frenchy who wears a pink wig in
this scene and sings "Beauty School Dropout" to her
and tries to convince her to go back to high school.
Aaron Gendrau Visco is splendid as Teen Angel. His
strong tenor voice fills the theater with its power.
Peggy Deston opens the show as Miss Lynch sings
"Alma Mater" with Eugene and Patty, welcoming the
audience back to 1959 and the good old days at
Rydell. Elizabeth Dennis sings "Raining On Prom
Night" with Sandy.
Another adult
in the show is Vince Fontaine played with wonderful
smarminess by Andrew Correia who wears leopard
shoes Vince picks up Marty at the prom and makes out
with her. Johnny Casino is played by Alex Leite. The
rah-rah cheerleader Patty Simcox is played by Erin
Cote and nerdy, Eugene is played by Brandon
Carreiro who are excellent dancers with their
funniest moment being when he ends up in her arms at
the end of the songs at the dance. The tough
talking, dancing dynamo from the other school Cha
Cha is hilariously played by Hilary Pavao.
So be
sure to catch "Grease" for a trip back to the
carefree days of the 1950's.
GREASE(
13 to 16 May, 2010)
Little
Theatre of Fall River, BBC, 777 Elsbree Street, Fall
River, MA
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