Grease in the Burbs

I made the trek down to the burbs last night to see a production of Grease that was put on by Rockingham Theatre Company. Well, what can I say... Grease is one of my favourite shows. I first saw the movie when I was eleven years of age and I have loved it ever since. I've also seen the stage show several times and I understand that it is much different from the movie, however, what I saw last night was highly disappointing!

The show began in near darkness, with the opening number Grease is the Word being performed with only two follow-spots that chased around the stage and prevented the audience from being able to see any of the performers' faces. Even a low level wash here would have lifted the scene immensely. The next thing I noticed was that, while the Pink Ladies looked about the right age, three of the T-Birds appeared to be in their 30's, acting opposite a Danny who was clearly under the age of 20! The directors (Beverley and David Heckingbottom) need to think carefully about casting in the future - this was simply embarassing for the actors performing the show as it made the entire story completely unbelievable!

The show proceeded to disappoint from there. While the chorale voice was quite strong, many of the soloists were clearly not ready for such a task. Kudos to Danny, Sandy, Rizzo, and Jan & Roger who held their songs together quite well. (In particular, to the young man who played Roger - you have a compelling voice with heaps of potential - I could tell that you were nervous, but you did well. Keep it up!) I would have liked to see Sandy and Rizzo give more of their own interpretation when performing though. These two girls are clearly quite talented and capable of making a song their own, but I feel the direction was to emulate those performances featured in the movie. Doody's solo Magic Changes was very flat in places and undermined the harmony created by the chorale voice. A truly painful performance! Kenicke's interpretation of Grease Lighting was completely out of time and had a severe lack of energy. I could hardly hear Marty's voice when she sang Freddy My Love - although this could be the fault of the sound technician. Possibly the worst sung performance however came from the actor playing Vince Fontayne and the Guardian Angel in Beauty School Drop Out. Rob Walker attempted to achieve things that he simply does not have the voice for - please, learn your limitations!

The choreography was simplistic and poorly executed. Grease has some very innovative numbers and offers the chance to create choreo that is equally innovative. I saw a simpler version of the same old routines one sees everywhere for these numbers. Please, please, please learn to take a chance with your choreo - the pay-off will be enormous! Also, why repeat the exact same routine when you present a number for a second (and in thsi case third) time? The choreo for We Go Together was not all that good to begin with; however, when I saw it for the third time I had to question the experience of the choreographer. Surely a woman who has been teaching dance for as long as Beverley Heckingbottom could have come up with a different routine - particularly considering there were far more cast members on stage the second and third time this particular number was staged.

As far as direction goes, I was astounded to learn that this show had been rehearsing since late April! I initially thought that the directors had not had enough time to get things right. Apparently I was wrong. There was a clear attempt to re-create the movie with many characters, which I feel is just lazy; the bulk of the blocking seemed to have no point other than the fact that a certain character had not moved in a while; and of course the creative casting truly undermined the entire production. My other concern regarding direction was the decision to include a 17-and-a-half minute medley of every single song from the show as the finale. We (the audience) had just seen the show, we did not need a reminder! This was a highly poor moment of direction that simply sent me spiralling into fits of insane boredom. Why?

I also have to call into question the strange choice of using pre-recorded music as opposed to a live band; a decision I must say I did not understand at all. Grease is all about the energy, which I'm sure you will agree is created by the music. The use of pre-recorded music caused the energy levels of the show to flatline! This lack of energy was then exacerbated by the bored looks on the faces of most of the performers. I question why most of these young people were on stage when they clearly were not enjoying themsleves.

A few positives:

The costumes were of a relatively high standard. Kudos to Sandy - you looked gorgeous in your tight number at the end - Olivia would be proud!

The sets were effective although at times overused. Just because you have steps on stage does not mean someone has to climb them in every scene!

Sonny had a fun, youthful energy (although was clearly at least 10 years older than Danny) that was communicated well to the audience.

Danny was clearly a cut above the rest. Hold onto him - he is the type of performer you want in your company. Good voice (although his microphone levels were too low for the bulk of the show), extremely strong dance and a convinving interpretation of the character. And perhaps most important of all - energetic throughout the entire performance!

Jan had something very special about her. She clearly loved performing this show and I hope I see her again in something soon. She is a true talent - keep hold of her as well!

At this point I would like to voice a quote I heard a few years back - "Just because it's community theatre, doesn't give it the excuse to be crap." I have seen many community shows (including other shows presented by Rockingham Theatre Company) that have been of a very pleasing standard. In fact, at times I have seen community shows that I feel rival those on the West End and Broadway! Please, please, please do not fall into the trap of "near enough is good enough, we're only a community show" as this cheapens the rest of the community theatre being presented around the traps.

I hope Rockingham Theatre Company look forwards from this production and return to their previous higher standards of performance. I did not enjoy Grease at all!