It’s been almost 50 years since Grease, the original musical was born, and almost 40 since iconic duo Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta became phenomenons when it was adapted as a film. Fast forward to now and we’ve got Grease: The Musical which is currently taking the UK by storm with a-wop-bop-a-loo-bop, a-wop-bam-boom! We managed to grab seats at a showing in the beautiful Lyceum theatre where it was a full house of excited boppers.
Tom Parker from boy band The Wanted makes his debut as bad boy Danny Zuko, complete with shiny slick hair and plenty of pelvic thrusting. Over The Rainbow winner Danielle Hope plays virtuous Sandy and Eastenders’ and Strictly Come Dancing’s Louisa Lytton takes on the role as Rizzo, who was my favourite character in this remake.
The 140 costume changes and various sets which involved vintage cars, a 50s diner and a drive-in movie took us right back to the rock ‘n’ roll era, more specifically Rydell High School where the boy-meets-girl romance unfolds. All the unforgettable songs were featured including Summer Nights, Beauty School Dropout, You’re The One That I Want, We Go Together and of course, Grease Lightning. It still amazes me to this day how anyone can sing and dance at the same time, and this cast made it look effortless! Standout performances were Danielle’s version of Hopelessly Devoted To You which was pitch perfect, the Born To Hand Jive routine involving so many lifts and twirls that I didn’t know who to watch and finally Those Magic Changes which got plenty of cheers from the audience, it might possibly be to do with the men dancing in nothing but their towels.
Any scene with Rizzo in oozed attitude, everything from her style to her feistiness and sass was remarkable, I especially enjoyed the act where all the Pink Ladies are in Marty’s bedroom gossiping, drinking and smoking – “Well, ringa ding-ding.”
A special mention to the live band who did a great job with all the upbeat songs. Overall it was a great performance, no one broke character for a second, you could tell who was who without them even saying a word, the choreography was impressive and you couldn’t help but just clap and sing along to all the songs, it was contagious!
Fun fact: 59 wigs, 16 leather jackets, 10 jumbo cans of hairspray and 8 pots of gel are used every week for Grease: The Musical
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