Review of Grease at Merry-go-round Theater June 2019
The Rydell High of the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival'due south "Grease" looks refreshingly unlike. But it sounds the aforementioned — for amend and, sometimes, for worse.
The beginning testify of the 61st flavor at the Merry-Get-Round Playhouse visits the cliquey 1959 schoolhouse setting for the third time on that stage. It'south the same archetype story: When another semester at Rydell begins, greaser Danny Zuko (Michael Notardonato) is stunned to find that his summer fling, Sandy Olsson (Heather Makalani), has transferred there. Equally Danny and Sandy try to reconcile his street criminal ways with her virtuous ones, his T-Bird friends and their Pinkish Ladies counterparts face many of the travails of their time: beauty school, unplanned pregnancy, fixing up an erstwhile car. And accompanying them, of course, is one of the about iconic soundtracks in musical theater, from "Summer Nights" and "You're the One That I Want" to "We Go Together" and "Greased Lightnin'."
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If I had to guess, the casts of the 1983 and 1998 productions of "Grease" at Merry-Go-Circular probably resembled the Italian-American faces of the 1978 John Travolta-Olivia Newton-John starrer. Near casts exercise. This flavour'south opener, however, looks much more diverse. There are several performers of color, from the featured roles to the pocket-size ensemble, and that makes this production of "Grease" not just more than representational, but positively more than modern. And spare me any lines about that aforementioned variety being unrealistic: Information technology's "Grease," so chill. (More than on that later on.)
Nonetheless, "Grease" is the word — then that cast still dons the leather jackets and cherry varsity letters of Rydell High. And from their wardrobe to the slick dos and bowtied curls atop their heads, the festival'southward visual game is polished as ever in "Grease." The set up is particularly dynamic, pairing a catwalk with window panels that director Igor Goldin puts to creative utilize for choreography and scene setting. There's fifty-fifty a real machine, Greased Lightnin' itself, that's carefully dollied onto the stage through one of those panels by a crew member wearing coveralls and motor oil.
The bandage does more than than expect their raging hormonal part, though. They grinning, kick and hand jive their way through Phil Colgan's choreography with youthful nil. They also sing their butts off, if only considering the audience knows the lyrics so well that the cast risks beingness drowned out. Makalani's wrenching turn on "Hopelessly Devoted" is the testify's musical highlight, merely everyone has their moment, such as Travis Przybylski's Roger on the goofball ballad "Mooning." And the bandage shares a certain comedic chemistry, fifty-fifty if Notardonato and Makalani struggle to spark a romantic i.
That'south not actually the error of the leads, though. Considering as a show, "Grease" merely doesn't have that much meaning. It's got a '50s setting, which easily seizes the imagination of cornball American audiences, equally well as an unrivaled collection of earworms. But afterward that, all "Grease" has is a weak story and queasy stereotypes. If Notardonato and Makalani tin can't sell their characters' romance, it's because said romance is kind of a junker. Sandy's arc, namely, is all over the road: She forgives Danny off-stage for winning the "High School Hop" with some other adult female and kissing her on the dais, then fights off his advances at the drive-in, and then decides she just needs to loosen up and dress like him and his hoodlum friends? Did I miss something — or did "Grease"?
And therein lies the challenge of producing musical theater canon in our more than culturally literate present. The festival can make the testify'southward bandage more diverse, and commendably so. But it'south a taller order to make its story more coherent, or plain, even to cut its cheap jokes nigh weight and sexuality. Considering in "Grease," those bumps are part of the ride. Nostalgia for the testify's setting has get nostalgia for the testify itself, the kind that has to gloss over noxious lines similar "Did she put upward a fight?" Everything about the show just goes together like — well, you know.
Gallery: 'Grease' at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse
'Grease' 1
Sandy (Heather Makalani) and Danny (Michael Notardonato) pb the cast in the finale of the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival's production of "Grease," which continues through June 26 at the Merry-Get-Circular Playhouse in Owasco.
'Grease' 2
Ms. Lynch (Lindsey Alley) overhears Sonny (Jack Cahill-Lemme) bragging to Kenickie (Noah Bridgestock) and Roger (Travis Przybylski) in the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival'due south production of "Grease," which continues through June 26 at the Merry-Go-Circular Playhouse in Owasco.
'Grease' 3
Patty (Viveca Chow) can't get a seat with the Pink Ladies in the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival'due south production of "Grease," which continues through June 26 at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Owasco.
'Grease' 4
Doody (Nick Martinez) dreams of distinction as he plays "Those Magic Changes" in the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival's production of "Grease," which continues through June 26 at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Owasco.
'Grease' 5
The T-Birds boast about "Greased Lightnin'" in the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival'south production of "Grease," which continues through June 26 at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Owasco.
'Grease' 6
Eugene (Trent Soyster) is flustered by Cha Cha's (Elizabeth Yanick) risqué dance moves at Rydell High's annual sock hop in the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival's production of "Grease," which continues through June 26 at the Merry-Go-Circular Playhouse in Owasco.
Lake Life Editor David Wilcox tin be reached at (315) 282-2245 or david.wilcox@lee.internet. Follow him on Twitter @drwilcox.
Source: https://auburnpub.com/entertainment/review-grease-at-merry-go-round-puts-new-paint-on-an-infectious-old-ride/article_3a170dd4-a02b-53c6-944d-c31982729f42.html
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