Now through September 8, GREASE is playing at Bucks County Playhouse in scenic New Hope, Pennsylvania. Long known as an artists’ colony, the long way around of saying LGBTQIA+ friendly since forever, New Hope hosts this gem of a theater and restaurant immediately at the edge of the Delaware River, there is an onsite restaurant as well as several shops and restaurants throughout. This production of GREASE includes many of the songs from the original stage musical as well as favorites from the 1978 film version. The script has been updated a bit, yet the main attraction of any show is how the cast brings the words and music to dazzling life from the notes and letters on the page. And this show ROCKS!
This show deals with some PG material, and though this is set in the late 1950s, the challenges for young men and women are still very much the same – sex, drinking, smoking and pregnancy are on the menu yet the story is told with such joie de vivre by the entire cast, it’s impossible to sit still! You’ll be singing under your breath to the songs you know and tapping and chair-dancing through the entire show.
Danny (Keaton Miller) and Sandy (Stephanie Prestage) play teens desperately seeking cool-and-sophisticated while wearing awkward-and-unsure like trying on cologne samples. The weather vane goes back and forth, easily recalling one’s own teen years (or resonating with current ones). The dancing is impeccable as Alison Solomon’s choreography draws on the verve and youthful vigor of the cast. Seth Howard’s sets are complemented by Kirk Bookman’s lighting that limns the flexibility to cast rooms and places as additional characters. Nicole V. Moody’s costumes and Sarah Norton’s wigs, hair and makeup give us the time travel we crave and Luke Molloy’s music direction and Jeff Sherwood’s sound design completes the picture so that we feel like members of Rydell High’s class of 1959. And what a class!
Director Hunter Foster has magically transformed 21st century youth to mid-century modern with ease. Hank Santos’ Kenickie in “Greased Lightning” is pure machismo that will elevate your heart rate. Sherrod T. Brown as the Teen Angel and Erin Kommor as Frenchy gave us a “Beauty School Dropout” that nearly brought house DOWN with louche and delicious side-eye, sparkles and a presence with which to be reckoned. Giuliana Augello’s Rizzo delivered a gutsy “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” that came from her most primal self. These were just my favorites!
You want pulse-racing, toe-tapping fun in a package – it’s GREASE! Get your tickets now, if there are any left, here: https://bcptheater.org/shows/grease/ and plan to spend the day!