Drury Lane rocks and bops down memory lane with its revival of 'Grease'
“Grease” - ★ ★ ½
Walking to my car Thursday after the opening of “Grease” at Drury Lane Theatre, I overheard a young man discussing the musical with a companion.
“She gave in to peer pressure. I don't get it,” he said, obviously referring to the finale when “good girl” Sandy, played by Emily Schultheis, transforms into a vamp to win the heart of “bad boy” Danny (Jake DiMaggio Lopez).
The comment suggested that was his first experience with Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey's musical, which premiered at Chicago's Kingston Mines in 1971 and opened on Broadway the next year. Perhaps then, and in 1978 when the film version starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John premiered, a young woman trading pastel frocks and pompons for black spandex and cigarettes was the appropriate expression of sexual awakening and independence.
Today that kind of forced conformity would be called what it is: bullying.
That message is dated. But teens sorting out friendships, navigating romance and sex, determining who they want to be and what they want to do - those struggles are timeless. And director/choreographer Paul Stancato ably conveys them in a revival pairing a bit of snark, good humor and boundless energy.
The latter is evident in Stancato's exceptional production numbers, beginning with the rip-roaring “Greased Lightnin'.” Led by Billy Rude's Kenickie and his fellow Burger Palace Boys - Lopez, Jordan Arredondo, Nik Kmiecik and Ben Dow - and featuring Stancato's highflying choreography, the dazzling, high-octane celebration of the American auto gets a big boost from designers Casey Schillo, Jeff Kmiec and John Burkland.
The action, set in 1959 at Chicago's fictional Rydell High School (standing in for William Howard Taft High School), unfolds as a series of snapshots chronicling Sandy and Danny's romance and the lives of their friends. There's aspiring beautician Frenchy (Ciarra Stroud), who's convinced by Evan Tyrone Martin's silky smooth Teen Angel to forego those ambitions. She's pursued by the guitar-playing Doody (Ben Dow), whose “Those Magic Changes” is a sweet salute to doo-wop.
Jan (Elizabeth Stenholt) and Roger (Nik Kmiecik) are the good-natured souls who are each other's mate. Sonny (Jordan Arredondo) is the guy without a girlfriend, and Marty (Anna Louise Bramlett) is the girl with too many boyfriends.
Last, but not least, is the tough-talking “bad girl” Betty Rizzo (Alina Taber), who's in an on-again/off-again affair with Kenickie and whose misunderstood soul Taber reveals in the powerhouse 11 o'clock number “There are Worse Things I Could Do.”
Like most revivals, Drury Lane's incorporates the film songs “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” “Sandy,” “You're the One That I Want” and the titular “Grease.” Fans will also recognize choreography from the film, which Stancato recreates for the terrific Act Two opener “Shakin' at the High School Hop” and its companion “Born to Hand Jive.” Propelled by conductor Christopher Sargent's rockin' sextet, Drury Lane's exuberant cast impresses.
But, for my money, the number that most resonates is the first act finale “We Go Together,” a rockin' and boppin' ode to abiding friendship. Now that's a message for all times.
Location: Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, (630) 530-0111, drurylanetheatre.com
Showtimes: 1:30 p.m. Wednesday; 1:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. Friday; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday through June 4
Tickets: $85-$95, dinner-theater packages available
Running time: About 2 hours, 10 minutes, including intermission
Parking: In the adjacent lot
Rating: For teens and older, includes mature subject matter
COVID-19 precautions: Masks optional