You’re not the Grease that I want
Grease (out of 4) Written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Directed by Josh Prince. Until Dec. 10 at the Winter Garden Theatre, 189 Yonge St., GreaseOnStage.com or 1-855-985-5000. In a world that feels like it’s slipping back to the ’50s in all the wrong ways, why not have a revival of Grease in all of its drag-racing, hand-jiving, summer-night-pining glory? That’s what opened this week at the Winter Garden Theatre, the inaugural production of the new commercial theatre company Irregular Entertainment, directed by Broadway choreographer Josh Prince.
What at first might seem like an innocent, albeit falsely nostalgic, visit to simpler times — whether that’s to your lived experience of the ’50s, of 1971 when the musical came out or any following generation that watched and rewatched the1978 film by Randal Kleiser — ends up having the opposite effect.
The more earnest Prince treats this rose-coloured-glasses tribute to the 1950s, the more the audience expects to be buoyed by its poodle skirts and leather jackets, and the emptier it feels when that doesn’t happen.
Because despite its undeniably catchy soundtrack (this production includes songs specific to the film, “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and “You’re the One That I Want” and the Barry Gibb-helmed title track “Grease” with a track list that follows the 2007 Broadway revival), the musical itself is inescapably shallow and rather callous to its characters.
By leaning into the appeal of the rockabilly song style, as Prince does with his choreography background (he’s known for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and Shrek The Musical), there’s a bravado to this Grease that bulldozes over any sentimentality. It’s like going to your high school reunion and spending the night cor- nered by an old bully as they relive the good ol’ days.
That being said, when Prince delivers he really delivers — numbers like “Born to Hand Jive,” a partnered contest at the Rydell High dance that capitalizes on the young cast’s frenetic energy, and “Those Magic Changes,” performed by Toronto newcomer Henry Firmston as Doody as a sweet, slow croon, sending Thunderbird bad-boy Danny (Dylan S. Wallach) into a lovesick daydream about meeting the sweet Sandy (Janel Parrish) that summer, are testaments to Grease’s glowing representation of the intensity of teenage love.
Others lose that charm and tip over into hormonal excess — an overchoreographed “Greased Lightning” dives straight into the young men’s fantasies about cruising downtown Chicago and picking up chicks, which float by the car as they swoon like the cast of an Axe body spray ad — or lack any chemistry at all — “Summer Nights” relies heavily on its male and female choruses to support any believable romance between Parrish and Wallach.
Part of this musical miss is due to casting, which often relies on TV experience instead of the stage (Parrish is best known from the teen drama Pretty Little Liars, and Katie Findlay, who’s much more successful as Rizzo, starred on The Killing and How to Get Away with Murder) and recent grads from musical theatre programs.
While it’s great to see Grease and the cohort of Rydell High populated with performers close to the ages of their characters, it does sometimes leave the Winter Garden Theatre feeling cavernous (though the rarity of viewing a performance in this magical venue is almost worth the ticket price alone).
Tess Benger, known to Toronto audiences for the indie musical Chasse-Galerie and several seasons at the Shaw Festival, is a highlight as the obnoxiously peppy cheerleader Patty Simcox, who has a particularly funny physical moment turning splits into a come-hither attempt to woo Danny.
Despite its slickness, enthusiasm and hutzpah, this new production of
It’s like going to your high school reunion and spending the night cornered by an old bully as they relive the good ol’ days
Grease might accidentally be advocating for a moratorium on the musical, as unlikely as that is to actually happen. The songs “We Go Together,” “Beauty School Dropout” and “You’re the One That I Want” have stood the test of time, after all. It’s a shame that the gender dynamics and shallow characterizations haven’t.