Grease the Musical Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh 26th June 2024 Review
Grease The Musical is at The Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh this week (Tue 25 to Sat 29 Jun) and it is hard to believe that this show is now over 50 years old (the original stage production was in 1971). For many of us though, it is the now iconic 1978 film starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta who have defined forever the leading roles of Danny and Sandy. Tonight that challenge of putting their own mark on these two roles was taken on by Hope Daw as Sandy Dumbrowski and Ben Middleton stepping into the lead role as Danny Zuko (replacing Marley Fenton).
If you are a fan of the Grease the film, but have not yet seen the stage show, then be prepared for a few changes, and maybe a few surprises here. The film changed quite a few things, and most noticeable right from the start is that this Sandy is Polish and not Australian. There are some major scene differences in the original stage show too, a few songs that never made it into the movie, and songs from the film that were never in the original stage show. Grease the musical stage show and Grease the film have though for many stage productions merged a little, and classic songs created for the film, including “Summer Nights”, “Hopelessly Devoted To You”, and “You’re The One That I Want” are in this production, plus a lot of other instantly recognisable favourites from the original stage show that made it into the film.
In this production, Hope Dawe is a good Sandy, even if I would have preferred her version of “Hopelessly Devoted To You” to have been less of a power ballad and shown a far more fragile and heartbroken young girl on stage. Still, this was obviously, judging by the applause, the version that the audience wanted to hear. More importantly than this though, Hope and Ben worked well onstage together as Sandy and Danny on both the dramatic and musical scenes of this show. Maybe this Danny was not quite the bad boy that I always imagine him to be, but the songs that both have in this show are such classics that they allow a wide interpretation of them by any performer and we still all love them.
The stage show always has far darker undertones than the sugar-coated film version of Grease, and that is evident in some of the scenes and the song lyrics and somehow, Kenickie (George Michaelides) and Betty Rizzo (Rebecca Stenhouse) always define that more realistic depiction of life for me, and here both were impressive in their respective roles. Rizzo has one of my favourite songs from this show, the very dark but honest, “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”, and here, Kenickie singing his song, “Greased Lightning” makes far more sense in the story line. Either individually or together, both George and Rebecca stole many of the scenes that they were in tonight.
With no reflection on anyone performing the role of Danny Zuko in this production, George Michaelides should be given the chance to take this role on as he more than has the on-stage charisma to create a memorable interpretation of this character.
Grease is more than a musical to many people now, it is an old friend, and needs no introduction to so many people now as it has become part of our cultural history. Still though, it is a nostalgia show that somehow manages to not get caught in a dated time warp and part of that success in this production is down to the fact that it is a stage musical with much loved songs, very identifiable characters, and choreography that has all of the sharpness that you would expect from Arlene Phillips.
If you have never been to Grease the Musical, take a chance on it as both this and Grease the film are different enough to stand on their own merits, but both also share enough common elements to please both audiences.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
If you are a fan of the Grease the film, but have not yet seen the stage show, then be prepared for a few changes, and maybe a few surprises here. The film changed quite a few things, and most noticeable right from the start is that this Sandy is Polish and not Australian. There are some major scene differences in the original stage show too, a few songs that never made it into the movie, and songs from the film that were never in the original stage show. Grease the musical stage show and Grease the film have though for many stage productions merged a little, and classic songs created for the film, including “Summer Nights”, “Hopelessly Devoted To You”, and “You’re The One That I Want” are in this production, plus a lot of other instantly recognisable favourites from the original stage show that made it into the film.
In this production, Hope Dawe is a good Sandy, even if I would have preferred her version of “Hopelessly Devoted To You” to have been less of a power ballad and shown a far more fragile and heartbroken young girl on stage. Still, this was obviously, judging by the applause, the version that the audience wanted to hear. More importantly than this though, Hope and Ben worked well onstage together as Sandy and Danny on both the dramatic and musical scenes of this show. Maybe this Danny was not quite the bad boy that I always imagine him to be, but the songs that both have in this show are such classics that they allow a wide interpretation of them by any performer and we still all love them.
The stage show always has far darker undertones than the sugar-coated film version of Grease, and that is evident in some of the scenes and the song lyrics and somehow, Kenickie (George Michaelides) and Betty Rizzo (Rebecca Stenhouse) always define that more realistic depiction of life for me, and here both were impressive in their respective roles. Rizzo has one of my favourite songs from this show, the very dark but honest, “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”, and here, Kenickie singing his song, “Greased Lightning” makes far more sense in the story line. Either individually or together, both George and Rebecca stole many of the scenes that they were in tonight.
With no reflection on anyone performing the role of Danny Zuko in this production, George Michaelides should be given the chance to take this role on as he more than has the on-stage charisma to create a memorable interpretation of this character.
Grease is more than a musical to many people now, it is an old friend, and needs no introduction to so many people now as it has become part of our cultural history. Still though, it is a nostalgia show that somehow manages to not get caught in a dated time warp and part of that success in this production is down to the fact that it is a stage musical with much loved songs, very identifiable characters, and choreography that has all of the sharpness that you would expect from Arlene Phillips.
If you have never been to Grease the Musical, take a chance on it as both this and Grease the film are different enough to stand on their own merits, but both also share enough common elements to please both audiences.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com