Grease at Adelaide Festival Theatre - Review

Grease at Adelaide Festival Theatre - Review

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Posted 2014-09-02 by Stacey Canavan-Tonkinfollow

Sun 03 Aug 2014 - Sun 31 Aug 2014

The number one party musical that has been touring Australia finished in Adelaide last weekend. Grease the Musical premiered at The Adelaide Festival Theatre on August 3 running until August 31st. The show on August 28th featured a packed house of eagerly awaiting students, that is because when you see Grease you walk in to Rydell High School and become the students of Miss Lynch (Val Lehman).

The Production starts with a sing-along with Patty Simcox (Antoniette Iesue) and Eugene Feslsnic (Eli Cooper) to 'We Go Together'. The audience sang "Rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong, shoobop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom" and out came the rest of the cast.

Featuring all the characters from the 1978 movie, it's the epic love story of Danny Zuko and Sandy Ollson. Danny (Rob Mills) is a greaser whose the leader of the T-Birds, along with his friends Kenickie (Stephen Mahy), Roger (Duane McGregor), Doody (Scott McConnell), and Sonny (Sam Ludeman).

Sandy (Gretel Scarlett) is the girl from Australia that Danny meets at the beach that summer, he thinks he will never see her again. But when her family decide to move, Danny and Sandy both find themselves at Rydell High School. Sandy becomes a member of The Pink Ladies, a popular clique of girls from her school, Rizzo, (Lucy Maunder) Frenchy (Francine Cain), Marty (Karla Tonkich) and Jan (Laura Murphy).

Staring Bert Newton as Vince Fortaine and John Paul Young as Johnny Casino, the show featured all the unforgettable songs such as 'You're The One That I Want', 'Grease Is The Word', 'Summer Nights', 'Hopelessly Devoted To You', 'Born to Hand Jive', 'Beauty School Dropout', 'We Go Together', 'Sandy' and 'Grease Lighting'.

Leading moments consisted of Rizzo's (Lucy Maunder) solo to 'There Are Worse Things I Could Do' , she was amazing. She has had a strong background in theatre and it really shows. When Marty (Karla Tonkich) sang 'Sandra D' this song is such a fun-loving part of the movie and was well presented in the production.

The dancing throughout the performance, during the dance off and most importantly during the duet between Danny (Rob Mills) and Cha Cha (Andrea Arena) was incredible. Cha Cha's (Arena) flips and turns with Danny (Mills) were perfect. She has a long career in the dance scene ahead of her.

I heard a lot about the iconic scene where Teen Angel (Todd McKenney) sings to Frenchy (Francine Cain) 'Beauty School Dropout' however the night I attended John Paul Young played that role. McKenney said "Unfortunately my absence was unavoidable. I appreciate how disappointing it is when you go to a show and a leading cast member is not there." Todd was very happy for me to attend the show again as his guest, however John Paul Young did a good job filling in as his understudy and I would still recommend seeing this show.

Try to attend Grease the Musical on the week of your birthday and you will get a present. A signed Grease photograph of the cast and a special shout out from Bert Newton on the night. It's a fun filled family classic brought to life on stage. Sadly Adelaide's season has finished, but Grease the Musical is still touring Australia through Hobart and Melbourne. Check out future shows at greaseistheword.com.au

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!date 03/08/2014 -- 31/08/2014
%wnadelaide
196451 - 2023-06-16 04:18:51

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