Best of Broadway GREASE at the Golden Gate
The entire company of Grease for their final number
GREASE: The Musical with book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Additional songs by Barry Gibb, John Farrar, Louis St. Louis and Scott Simon. Directed and choreographed by two-time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall. The Best of Broadway Series at Golden Gate Theatre, 1 Taylor Street (at Golden Gate Ave), San Francisco 94102. www.shnsf.com or through Ticketmaster at (415) 512-7770.
A TAMED DOWN RAUCHY VERSION OF GREASE.
In the 37 years since its Broadway debut, GREASE has undergone many revisions and if you are seeking nostalgia, you will be hard pressed to determine where those revisions and additions fit into the totality of this raucous production. Initially described as “raunchy, raw, aggressive, and vulgar”, this tamed down version will have to settle for raunchy and loud. Some sage has stated that “if it can’t be good, keep it good and loud.”
In all fairness, the opening night audience seemed to enjoy the evening taking part in the warm up before the show begins when, the disc jockey (DJ) of WAXX, Vince Fontaine (Dominic Fortuna), plays music from the '50s for the audience to sing along and perform the twist, the swim, the monkey and the Petaluma shuffle. After that, he reminds us to silence our electronic devices and observe the exit doors before the show begins.
GREASE is a rock and roll musical defining the transition period between a relatively staid teenage culture of the 50s clashing with the non-conformity of the 60s. Of the two leads Sandy Dumbrowski (Emily Padgett) represents the 50s and Danny Zuko (Eric Schneider) the 60s. What better place to explore the angst of the teens than with a group of students at fictional
The attractive cast who unfortunately resemble long in the tooth high schoolers are difficult to distinguish from one and other but many excel in individual numbers and all dance up a storm. The production is a jumble of humorous, garishly designed colorful sets (Derek McLane) splashed with a plethora of spotlights and strobe lights (Kenneth Posner). One especially attractive scene bringing gasps of delight involves the transition of a full size hunk of junk car into a gleaming red “Greased Lightin” model to die for. The costumes (Martin Pakledinaz) have over-the-top glitter but provide ample freedom for the dancers whose exuberance is legion. Hooray to director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall.
Individual accolades go to Emily Padgett whose transformation from a goody-goody two shoes to a sexy broad is astounding; to Allie Schulz as an erstwhile slut singing the satirical “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” and “There are Worse Things I Could Do.”; to Taylor Hicks for his only number, that is a show stopper, “Beauty School Dropout.”; to the entire production number “Shakin’ at the High School Hop” that opens the second act; and to Dominic Fortuna and Company for “Born to Hand Jive.”
Running time 2 hours and 20 minutes with intermission.
Kedar K. Adour
TheatreWorld Internet Magazine