name | Grease |
---|---|
music | Jim JacobsWarren Casey |
lyrics | Jim JacobsWarren Casey |
book | Jim JacobsWarren Casey |
productions | 1971 Chicago1972 Broadway1973 West End1978 Film1979 West End revival1993 West End revival1994 Broadway revival1994 U.S. national tour2001 West End revival International productions 2007 West End revival 2007 Broadway revival2008 U.S. national tour 2010 - 2011 U.S. Non Equity National Tour 2011 Chicago |
awards | }} |
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School (loosely based on William Howard Taft School), follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love, cars, and drive-ins. The score attempts to recreate the sounds of early rock and roll. In its record-breaking original Broadway production, Grease was a raunchy, raw, aggressive, vulgar show that since has been sanitized and tamed down by subsequent productions. The show tackles such social issues as teenage pregnancy and gang violence; its themes include love, friendship, teenage rebellion, sexual exploration during adolescence, and, to some extent, class consciousness/class conflict.
Grease first was performed in 1971 in the original Kingston Mines Theatre in Chicago, located in an old trolley barn (now the site of a hospital parking garage). From there, it has been successful on both stage and screen, but the content has changed drastically and its teenage characters have become less Chicago habitués and more generic. At the time that it closed in 1980, Grease
In April 2011 writer Jim Jacobs finally said Sandy's character was based on Jeanie Kozemczak.
Producers Ken Waissman and Maxine Fox saw the show and suggested to the playwrights that it might work better as a musical, and told them if the creative partners were willing to rework it and they liked the end result, they would produce it Off-Broadway. The team headed to New York City to collaborate on what would become Grease. The new production, directed by Tom Moore and choreographed by Patricia Birch (who later directed the ill-fated sequel of the film adaptation of Grease), opened Off Broadway at the Eden Theatre in downtown Manhattan on February 14, 1972. The Best Plays of 1971-72 notes "Though Grease opened geographically off Broadway, it did so under first class Broadway contracts." The show was deemed eligible for the 1972 Tony Awards, receiving seven Tony Award nominations.
On June 7, 1972, the production moved to Broadway and the Broadhurst Theatre, and on November 21, it moved to the Royale Theatre, where it ran until January 27, 1980. For the five final weeks of the run, the show moved to the larger Majestic Theatre. By the time it closed on April 13, 1980, it had run 3,388-performances.
The original cast included Barry Bostwick as Danny and Carole Demas as Sandy, with Adrienne Barbeau, Timothy Meyers, Alan Paul, and Walter Bobbie in supporting roles. Replacements later in the run included Jeff Conaway, Marilu Henner, Peter Gallagher, Ilene Graff, Judy Kaye, Patrick Swayze, John Travolta, Jerry Zaks, and Treat Williams. Richard Gere was an understudy for many roles in this production, including Danny Zuko, Teen Angel, and Vince Fontaine.
A U.S. national tour of the 1994 production started in September 1994 in New Haven, Connecticut, and ran for several years. The opening tour cast included Sally Struthers (Miss Lynch), who stayed with the tour for several years, Angela Pupello (Rizzo), Rex Smith (Danny), Trisha M. Gorman (Sandy), and Davy Jones (Vince Fontaine). Brooke Shields (Rizzo) started on the tour in November 1994 before joining the Broadway cast. Other notable performers on the tour were Mickey Dolenz (Vince Fontaine), Adrian Zmed (Danny), Debbie Gibson, Heather Stokes, Mackenzie Phillips and Jasmine Guy (Rizzo), Sutton Foster (Sandy) and Marissa Jaret Winokur (Jan), and Lucy Lawless (Rizzo, 1997).
A West End revival opened at the Piccadilly Theatre, London on August 8, 2007; despite mixed reviews, the show is now in its fourth year and continues (as of July 26, 2010). It is currently the longest running show in the Piccadilly Theatre's history. The leads were similarly cast via ITV's Grease Is The Word, with Danny Bayne and Susan McFadden playing Danny and Sandy. The production closed on April 30, 2011 after over 1,300 performances with a U.K. tour to begin on May 6, 2011 in Edinburgh.
The UK Tour features Danny Bayne as Danny, Carina Gillespie as Sandy, Ricky Rojas as Kenickie, Kate Somerset How as Rizzo, Derek Andrews as Roger, Laura Wilson as Jan, Richard Vincent as Doody, Lauren Stroud as Frenchy, Josh Dever as Sonny, Lois Urwin as Marty, Darren John as Eugene, Sammy Kelly as Patty, Jason Capewell as Teen Angel/Vince Fontaine, Nancy Hill as Miss Lynch and Sophie Zucchini as Cha Cha.
The tour also included Patrick Cragin as Kenickie, Chris Duir as Eugene, Audrey Filson as Patty Simcox, Kelly Teal Goyette as Miss Lynch, Patrick Joyce as Sonny, Alicia Kelly as Marty, Brad Lawson as Roger, Ashley Rubin as Frenchy, Lauren Elaine Taylor as Rizzo, Lauren Turner as Jan and Marc Winski as Doody.
In 1984, the Mexican group Timbiriche, starred in the musical, with Sasha Sokol and Benny Ibarra in the leading roles, getting an overwhelming success. Also recorded a CD with musical themes. Also participating: Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza, Eduardo Capetillo, Alix Bauer Paulina Rubio, Alejandro Ibarra, Erik Rubin, Stephanie Salas, Thalía, Edith, Lolita Cortés, among others.
A Spanish revival ran successfully at Teatre Victòria, Barcelona from October 3, 2006 to January 6, 2008. After a short national tour, the production was transferred to Teatro Nuevo Alcalá, Madrid, where it ran from October 14, 2008 to January 31, 2010 and then continued touring Spain until its finally closing on August 1, 2010, becoming one of the Spain's longest running production in history with 1090 performances. Directed by Ricard Reguant, the original cast included Carlos Solano (later alternating the role with Tony Bernetti) as Danny Zuko, María Adamuz as Sandy (later Replaced by Edurne and Gisela), Elena Gadel as Betty Rizzo, Daniel Millet as Kenickie (later replaced by Marc Parejo), Marisa Gerardi as Miss Lynch and Xavier Mateu as Vince Fontaine/Teen Angel (later replaced by Victor Díaz).
The New Zealand Production, based on the London West End Revival, ran at the Civic Theatre in Auckland during August 2010. The production featured the South African cast, with Jonathan Roxmouth as Danny, Bethany Dickson as Sandy and Genna Galloway as Rizzo.
There is a new girl at school, Sandy Dumbrowski. She and the leader of the Burger Palace Boys, Danny Zuko, had a brief love affair the summer before, but the summer ended for them with unresolved feelings of love. In describing the fling to the Pink Ladies (Jan, Marty, Frenchy, and Betty Rizzo), Sandy focuses on the emotional attachment that she and Danny had, while Danny lies to the Boys (Roger, Doody, Sonny, and Kenickie) about the physical aspects of their relationship ("Summer Nights"). Sandy and Danny soon bump into each other at school, and while Sandy is happy to see Danny, he brushes her off, pretending to be too cool. Meanwhile, the teenagers gather in the hall as Doody, the youngest Burger Palace Boy, shows off his new guitar. The rock star wannabe gives an impromptu concert in the hall ("Those Magic Changes").
At Marty's pajama party, the girls experiment with wine, cigarettes, pierced ears, and talk about boys. Marty tells about her long-distance courtship with a Marine ("Freddy, My Love"). Meanwhile, the Burger Palace Boys are busy stealing hubcaps and teasing Kenickie about his new (used) car ("Greased Lightning").
Danny sees Sandy again and tries to apologize for his behavior, but she is hurt to find out that he has told his friends that she is "easy." Head cheerleader Patty Simcox interrupts to prompt Sandy to join the squad and to tease Danny about his latest indiscretions ("Rydell Fight Song"). The kids take their newfangled portable radios for a rock and roll picnic in the park and plan how they will pair off at the upcoming school prom, while Roger shares his love for Jan and his favorite hobby ("Mooning"). Rizzo teases Danny for falling for a girl who resembles the excessively proper teenage ingénue, Sandra Dee ("Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee"). Sandy realizes that Danny is putting her off to be cool and wishes she had never met him.
Then Danny suggests that Marty go out with Eugene, and she chases after him. The kids declare that they will "always be together" and they will always be friends ("We Go Together").
A few days later at the Burger Palace after school, a couple of the guys run into Frenchy, who flunked out of Rydell and has now dropped out of beauty school since she failed all of her classes ("Beauty School Dropout"). Danny, who has taken up track in order to win back Sandy's affections, does not know that Cha-Cha’s boyfriend’s gang has challenged the guys to a rumble. He is more concerned about patching things up with Sandy at the Twi-Light Drive In, but he moves too fast for her, and she leaves ("All Alone at a Drive-In Movie", with "Sandy" substituted in the revival). A couple days later, the "greasers" are having a party in Jan’s basement, as Doody and Roger sing ("Rock ’n’ Roll Party Queen"). Rizzo is worried that she is pregnant, but she is so mad at Kenickie that she tells him he is not the father. Rizzo rejects the kids' offers of help, especially Sandy's ("There Are Worse Things I Could Do"). Sandy wonders what she needs to do to fit in at Rydell ("Look at Me; I'm Sandra Dee [Reprise]").
The next time Sandy meets up with the Burger Palace Boys and the Pink Ladies, she has transformed herself into a greaser's dream date ("All Choked Up", with "You're the One That I Want" substituted in the revival). Rizzo reveals that she is not pregnant, and she and Kenickie reunite. All ends happily ("We Go Together [Reprise]").
The following songs of the School Version have undergone lyric changes:
The remainder of the songs have been edited severely for time, deleting several verses from the original songs.
! Role | ! Broadway Première (1972)Broadhurst Theatre | ! London Première (1973)New London Theatre | ! Motion Picture (1978)N/A | ! London Revival (1993)Broadhurst Theatre | ! Broadway Revival (1994) Eugene O'Neill Theatre |
Danny Zuko | Barry Bostwick | Richard Gere/Patrick Swayze | John Travolta | Craig McLachlan | Ricky Paull Goldin |
Sandy Dumbrowski/Olson in movie | Carole Demas | Stacey Gregg | Olivia Newton-John | Debbie Gibson | Susan Wood |
Betty Rizzo | Adrienne Barbeau | Jacqui-Ann Carr | Stockard Channing | Sally Ann Triplett/Katie Verner | Brooke Shields/Rosie O'Donnell |
Roger "Rump" (movie name is Putzie) | Walter Bobbie | Stephen Bent | Kelly Ward | Hunter Foster | |
Doody | James Canning | Derek James | Barry Pearl | ||
Frenchy | Marya Small | Didi Conn | |||
Marty Maraschino | Katie Hanley | Dinah Manoff | Megan Mullally | ||
Teen Angel | Alan Paul | Frankie Avalon | Toby Hinson | ||
Vince Fontaine | Don Billett | Edd Byrnes | Toby Hinson | ||
Jan | Garn Stephens | Jamie Donnelly | |||
Kenickie | Timothy Meyers | Jeff Conaway | Shane Ritchie | ||
Dominic "Sonny" LaTierri | Jim Borrelli | Michael Tucci | |||
Charlene “Cha-Cha” DiGregorio | Kathi Moss | Julie Henderson | Annette Charles | ||
Eugene Florczyk | Tom Harris | Eddie Deezen | Hank Rion | ||
Johnny Casino | Alan Paul | Glenn Carter | Sha-Na-Na | ||
Miss Lynch (movie: Principal McGee) | Dorothy Leon | Eve Arden | Sally Struthers | ||
Patty Simcox | Ilene Kristen | Susan Buckner | Katie Verner | ||
* The 1972 version is the standard version licensed to professionals and amateurs through Samuel French Inc.
''* Some aspects are not present in this edition of the play at all, including Rizzo's pregnancy and her song "There Are Worse Things I Could Do." Many of the musical numbers have undergone lyric changes, and have been arranged to make the songs much shorter.
:* The 2007 revival incorporates some changes from the popular film version. Some numbers were eliminated, and others were added to the score: "Grease" was written by Barry Gibb, "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "You’re the One That I Want" are written by John Farrar, and "Sandy" is by Louis St. Louis and Scott Simon.
;Orchestration The original score calls for a piano, two tenor saxophones, bass guitar, percussion, and two guitars. The 2007 revival includes two pianos, two reeds, trombone, trumpet, guitar, bass guitar, and percussion.
Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
Patricia Birch | ||||
Carrie Robbins | ||||
Adrienne Barbeau | ||||
colspan="2" | ||||
Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey | ||||
Barry Bostwick | ||||
Timothy Meyers | ||||
Adrienne Barbeau | ||||
Patricia Birch | ||||
Carrie Robbins |
Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
Sam Harris | ||||
Brooke Shields | ||||
colspan="2" | ||||
Marcia Lewis | ||||
Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
Tony Award | colspan="2" |
Category:1971 musicals Category:Broadway musicals Category:West End musicals Category:Original musicals Category:1959 in fiction
cy:Grease (sioe gerdd) da:Grease (musical) de:Grease (Musical) fr:Graisse io:Graso it:Grease (musical) la:Grease (pellicula) nl:Grease (musical) no:Grease (musikal) pl:Grease (musical) pt:Grease simple:Grease (musical) sk:Pomáda fi:Grease (musikaali) sv:Grease (musikal)This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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