“Grease”

Anyone who has ever seen a play at this converted movie house, now celebrating ten years of being a live theatre, knows that the stage is quite small, so they are limited to the number of people they can fit and the set design. They have worked out a program allowing them to use the same set they are using for their other production, “The Lightning Thief”, and with the creativity of director Ty Perry, who also handled the choreography, they pulled it off. On the tech side, the other important items were the lighting (Pat Henderson) and sound (Brian Bedoya) are right on target and the costumes (Patty Halajian) are pretty decent for a lower budget production. The guys did not have T-Birds jackets and only two of them wore black leather jackets. Most of the girls wore their “Pink Ladies” jackets ( including one of the audience members). Gretchen Kimmeth did the hair and wigs and had a lot to do. I suggest that they find a way to cover Eugene’s bald spot, as the light reflecting on same was blinding. Incidentally, Andrew Buel was born to play this role.

Tonight’s opening was a little eerie. Two of the actresses were not on the stage and understudies took on their roles. I was advised and could have changed performances, but, when I was an actor, I once had an opportunity to go on for the opening and it later opened many doors for me, so I said, no, let’s take it as the cards fall. I was quite impressed by what I saw, talent-wise. Some amazing voices filled the tiny stage and solid performances. I would say the biggest problem these actors had is not knowing how to smoke a cigarette or in some cases, even hold one. They looked awkward. The program lists an intimacy coach(Christa Recka). Perhaps they needed a smoking director, like Phillip Morris!

You all know the story. Danny Zuko ( played by Seth Riley) is a greaser and head of the T-Birds. Over the summer he meets a young lady, Sandy Dumbrowski ( played to perfection by Olivia Daly-Short, the understudy), who it turns out was not just a “Summer Love”, but has transferred into Rydell. The other Pink Ladies are Betty Rizzo (Taylor Morris is better when she sings, character-wise), the “Bad Girl”, Frenchie ( Sydney Schenker) the “Beauty School Drop Out”, Marty ( what a fab voice Liv Gallo brings to the role as she does “Freddy My Love”), and Jan ( the adorable Julia Aragon).

The T-Birds include Kenickie ( Marcelo Nylund does a great “Greased Lighting” without doing a car on stage), Doody (Chris Montero), Roger (Alex Villasenor) and Sonny (Luis Del Valle). Patti Simcox, the cheerleader is played to perfection by Sarah Jean Mergener, and as mentioned earlier the super nerd, Eugene could not have been handled any better than the way Buel did the role. The exciting role of Cha Cha Digregorio ( usualy handled by Daly-Short, tonight was expertly handled by Amanda Nach) and the Angel that sings “Beauty School Drop-Out” was done by Liam K. Schlosser who truly hits some notes that were amazing. Last but not least in this solid cast are Jim Banta handling the role of Vince Fontaine and of course ,Mariel Saavedra as Miss Lynch.

This is where I ask you to forget about the film version and see this play the way it was meant to be seen. In an intimate space with great voices and a cast that loves every minute of bringing this story to life. Yes, the show gets into issue of that period ( many of which still exist today), like adolescence itself, sex, gang violence, teen pregnancy, love and friendship. A lot has happened since its debut at Kingston Mines in 1971, but what Jacobs and Casey brought to life still goes together.

You’ve heard the expression ” good things come in small packages”. Well, The Skokie Theatre, under its leadership of Wayne Mell and Wendy Kaplan keep proving how true this is!