Grease the Musical
Crown Theatre Perth
4 stars
The cast of Grease the Musical playing at the Crown Theatre Perth July 2024.Credit: Jeff Busby
Grease is rare among musicals in that its individual songs completely transcend the disposable high-school-romance narrative and its laughably cliched depiction of American teen culture of the 1950s.
Even those who’ve never seen the 1978 film starring John Travolta as greaser Danny Zuko and Olivia Newton-John as virginal visitor from Down Under Sandra Olsson – or seen any of the iterations of the original Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs musical (first performed in a Chicago nightclub in 1971) –could sing along to the mega-selling Grease soundtrack.
Indeed, most of the songs that became hits — Grease, You’re the One That I Want, Hopelessly Devoted to You — were not in the original show but written for the film, a clear indication that producer Allen Carr had little interest in respecting Casey and Jacobs’ vision as he souped up a vehicle that would roar up the movie and music charts (the soundtrack is one of the biggest selling albums of all time).
The numbers are so well-known and so cherished that the producers of Grease the Musical might well have cast aside the story of Danny and Sandy and the other Rydell High Seniors stumbling their way toward adulthood and served up a concert version, which is what they do in the crowd-pleasing reprise that had everyone on their feet singing along at the opening night of the Perth season at Crown Theatre.
While the hits were delivered with the panache and punch we’ve come to expect of touring musicals — the quality of shows that come through Crown is dazzlingly high — the most pleasing aspect of Grease the Musical is that it’s a true ensemble piece, with all of the members of the marvellously talented cast getting a moment in the spotlight (in this sense it reminded me of the stunning production of Rent at His Majesty’s).
Fabian Andres as the pretty boy T-Birds gang leader Danny and Annelise Hall as goody two-shoes Sandy light up the stage each time they are together. But we spend almost as much time with Danny’s greaser trouble-maker buddy Kenicke (Keanu Gonzalez) and his on-and-off girlfriend Rizzo (Mackenzie Dunn), drop-out and wannabe beautician Frenchy (Catty Hamilton) and the rest of the T-Birds and Pink Ladies.
Indeed, it is not Andres’ Danny who performs the iconic Greased Lightnin’, as Travolta did in the movie, but Gonzalez’s Kenicke, which is what the character did in the original show. It’s a slight adjustment, but enough of a change to the cherished film version to shift the spotlight away from dreamboat Danny to the other characters to remind us of the importance of gangs and groups during the crucial teen years.
And just as the great Stockard Channing ran away with the Grease movie playing tough gal Rizzo, Perth-reared, WAAPA-trained Dunn leaves the leads in the dust with her powerhouse version of one of the show’s lesser-known songs, the ballsy, heartbreaking ballad There Are Worse Things I Could Do.
Danny (Fabian Andres) and Sandy (Annelise Hall).Credit: Jeff Busby
As has become a tradition with Grease the Musical, the grown-up roles are taken by well-known veteran performers, with 79-year-old Patti Newton bringing a surprising snap to her role as the school teacher Miss Lynch (no Biden-like questions about her being up to the task), Jay Laga’aia channelling James Brown-ish swagger in playing the mischievous DJ Wayne Fontaine and Marcia Hines going full diva as the Vegas-ready Teen Angel (she still has a hell of a voice).
Unlike previous shows set during this period that have played at Crown in recent years, there is no attempt to make Grease relevant to our times or remove elements that will make a more enlightened audience cringe (when the geeky Eugene becomes the target of homophobic jokes he shudders, as if he was being called a Nazi). So it lacks the self-reflexive wit that could freshen up Grease for a younger audience.
But Grease the Musical is not that kind of show. Indeed, there is barely any attention paid to the push and pull of the Danny/Sandy relationship and the trauma of Rizzo’s pregnancy is brushed off with a couple of words, which completely undermines the heartache of her earlier ballad.
It’s pure nostalgia, delivered in such a slick and exuberant manner it is like being dropped into the passenger seat of Kenicke’s souped up car, taken for a spin through the fantasy version of the 1950s with a bunch of timeless songs on the radio – and ending in a very happy place.
Grease the Musical runs until July 28.
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