Our ever-ambitious Drama team has gone for broke this year with their biggest ever production, Grease. English teacher, Mr Digby Don reviews our all-singing and dancing take on a 1970s classic.
‘It’s Murder on the Dancefloor (but you better not kill the groove)’ has been trending on YouTube since its Saltburn resurgence. An inspiration for Ellis-Bextor’s music video was, apparently, the famous dance-contest-hand-jive scene from Grease, which features a gym full of couples tussling for the judge’s eye. When Grease (1978) was filmed, this scene took five days to shoot, such was the complexity and intensity. So, I wondered, would Harrodian pull it off? And How? After all, over the last seven years, the school has produced some outstanding musical theatre: School of Rock, The Addams Family, Legally Blonde. How would this production of Grease compare?
Grease captures the tussles between between a time of post-War stability and the old 50s certainties and the uncertainties of the 60s and 70s that were yet to come.
Digby Don, English Teacher
Question one: what’s Grease actually about? Written and first staged in 1971, but set in a Chicago of the 1950s, Grease seems to be about America in flux, between a time of post-War stability (pre-Vietnam, pre-Cuba) and 60s and 70s change that came with mini-skirts, the pill, Stonewall and Watergate. Grease captures the tussles between these old 50s certainties (and ‘respectability’) and the uncertainties of the 60s and 70s to come.
This was illustrated immediately in the Harrodian production, which opened with the Rydell High Principal and the prefect figure, Eugene, (played smartly by Tatiana and Felix) delivering their address. The staging was bare and the message was staid; there was a hint that a vibrant fightback might be concealed behind the stage curtains. And so it proved. A multi-colour ‘Grease is the Word’ was executed crisply, followed shortly by ‘Summer Nights’. So began the tussle between the old ‘thrifty’ and the new ‘nifty’. During these opening scenes, we encountered the colourful set, the professional band, the sound and production, and the sheer size of the cast: 65 pupils from the 11s to the U6.
See the best of our production pictures in our special Grease Gallery
‘Summer Nights’, as the first major number, gave the T-Birds a chance to strut their stuff, flaunting their jackets and their Chi-town accents. These boys, played by Samson, Thomas, Jamie and Orson, exuded male adolescent insecurity; the fragility of their confidence was laid bare by the appearance of The Pink Ladies (Phoebe, Olivia, Alex, Lucy, Chloe, Willow, Honour, Coco) who outnumbered them and then rounded squarely on their wit. With the realisation that Sandy (played by Daisy) and Danny (played by Woody) were at the same school, came the realisation that this group - and not just the soloists - could really sing. Daisy and Woody asserted themselves on stage and through the rendition of their summer nights got their voices and the audience going. Meanwhile the Pink Ladies, T-Birds and ensemble reminded us that Grease can’t be staged without very good singers and accomplished dancers. Bravo.
Scenes were often introduced by Vince Fontaine (played by Sampson, a veteran of four musicals in his seven year Harrodian career) who played his compere role with wit and an excellent accent to match. The pre- interval first half was structured around three big numbers: ‘Freddy, My Love’, ‘Grease Lightning’ and ‘Hopelessly Devoted’. The first of these was led by Marty (played by Lucy) and was performed beautifully, especially considering she was the youngest of the leads (13s). We wonder what became of Freddy.
With ‘Grease Lightning’ comes expectation and, I imagine, some nerves. When Grease is mentioned the line that springs to mind is ‘… this car could be systematic … [dun] … hydromatic … [dun] … ultramatic … [dun] … why it could be Grease Lightning…’ According to one reliable source, the lines were originally written for Kenickie but John Travolta refused to play the role of Danny unless he got them, causing a rift between him and Jeff Conaway. In the Harrodian version, Woody was more gracious, allowing Samson’s Kenickie to have his piece; it’s Kenickie’s car, after all. Samson grasped the moment with a swagger but also a good pinch of self parody and humour. It was a much-anticipated scene, nicely done, with the junior T-Birds from our 11s mainly taking centre-stage.
The show-stopping ‘Hopelessly Devoted’ was performed by Daisy. Another stalwart of Harrodian musicals, she graduated to the lead role of Sandy this year and executed her solo piece with note-perfect maturity and subtlety: the performance was both beautiful and poignant.
The second half started with a Bang or more specifically a ‘Big Dance Bash - Cha-Cha - Hand-Jive extravaganza’. Were there really 40 actors on stage? Hard to tell.
The second half started with a Bang or more specifically a ‘Big Dance Bash - Cha-Cha - Hand-Jive extravaganza’. Were there 40 actors on stage? Hard to tell. Featuring entertaining cameos from Athina (Cha Cha) and Ramsey (Jonny Casino) ‘Born to hand jive, baby’ was still stuck in my head the following evening along with joyful impressions of the younger performers again dancing right at the front. Credit must go to the director, Sam Sugarman, the team and choreographers, Alice Jarvis and Olivia Davies, for entrusting the youngsters with this moment in the spotlight and starting the next generation early.
As we begin to hurtle towards the finale let's pause to consider a couple more stand-out scenes. First up is Rocco’s transformation into a guardian angel, delivering advice to a disconsolate Frenchy. ‘Beauty School Dropout’ was a knockout with some quite extraordinarily high notes. Then there was the Drive-in scene (special mention to Beth in the 12s and Maxence in the 13s), for some convincing big screen acting and to the dear old Morris Minor which had undergone a convincing makeover as a Chevy). While Danny was making a mess of the date, we continued to feel for Patty (played by Ioanna) who dipped in and out of scenes, in her pursuit of him.
And so to the ending: the transformation of Sandy that concludes Grease makes for a dramatic finale but the implicit message – that women should change their identity to be with the man they love – is bound to seem both outdated and sexist to today’s Harrodian pupils and parents. Fortunately the quality of Daisy’s performance of Sandy’s last solo ‘Goodbye to Sandra Dee’ seemed to confront this problem. As she resolved to ‘start anew’ you could sense the pathos of a young woman struggling with a 1950s society not yet ready to allow women to be true to themselves.
This was a Five Star production that encouraged us both to relish the unbounded energy and fun of Grease and its great songs and to critique the cringey bits.
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Rather than endorsing the original message, this was a Five Star production that encouraged us both to relish the unbounded energy and fun of Grease and its great songs and to critique the cringey bits. As Sandy and Danny and the cast launched into ‘You’re the One that I Want’ I enjoyed a real thrill at the sheer magnitude of the spectacle, while reflecting, for a moment, on how a tussle with the past can also inform our view of the present.
