Full Casting Announced for National GREASE Tour; Padgett and Schneider to Star

The producers of the Tony Award nominated new Broadway production of GREASE announced the full cast today for the national tour of the show, launching at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence, RI on December 2, 2008.

As was previously announced, "American Idol" Season Five winner Taylor Hicks will star as "Teen Angel." Taylor Hicks made his debut on Broadway in the role this past summer. He achieved widespread fame in 2006 as a contestant on the hugely successful FOX singing competition "American Idol."

Starring with Taylor Hicks will be Eric Schneider as "Danny" and Emily Padgett as "Sandy." Eric made his Broadway debut in Jersey Boys. His previous credits include Altar Boyz (Off-Broadway) and the national tours of Altar Boyz and The Full Monty. Emily made her Broadway debut in GREASE™, where she understudied the role of Sandy. Her other credits include the national tours of CATS and Thoroughly Modern Millie. Starring as "Rizzo" will be Allie Schulz, a contestant on NBC's "Grease: You're the One That I Want." Allie comes directly from the Broadway company of GREASE.

The tour also stars Scot Patrick Allan as "Eugene," Will Blum as "Roger," Bridie Carroll as "Jan," Kate Morgan Chadwick as "Frenchy," Brian Crum as "Doody," Kelly Felthous as "Marty," Dominic Fortuna as "Vince Fontaine," Erin Henry as "Patty Simcox," Roxie Lucas as "Miss Lynch," David Ruffin as "Kenickie," and Nick Verina as "Sonny."

The ensemble features Joseph Corella, Preston Ellis, Melissa Larsen, Ruby Lewis, Lisa Maietta, Dayla Perkins, Mark Raumaker, Mike Russo, Matthew William Schmidt and Brooke Stone.

This new production of GREASE, which opened on Broadway on Sunday, August 19, 2007, was born out of NBC's landmark talent competition TV series, "Grease: You're The One That I Want." The weekly talent competition drew 90 million viewers, and America voted for its favorite contestants to play the lead roles of Sandy and Danny on Broadway. Directed and choreographed by two-time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall (The Pajama Game, Wonderful Town), GREASE features book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey.

After spending a hopelessly devoted summer with Sandy Dumbrowski, the new girl in town, Danny Zuko's world is thrown upside down when Sandy appears at Rydell High on the first day of school. What follows is a rock n' roll celebration of growin' up, cruisin' with friends and goin' steady. The new production of GREASE features songs from the smash hit 1978 motion picture for the first time ever in a Broadway production including "Sandy," the Academy Award nominated song "Hopelessly Devoted to You," "Grease" and "You're the One That I Want" - both of which were #1 hits on the Billboard Top 100 list. These songs will be heard in addition to the Jacobs/Casey songs made famous by the original stage production including "Summer Nights," "Greased Lightnin'" and "We Go Together."

GREASE features scenic design by Tony Award nominee Derek McLane (The Pajama Game), costume design by two-time Tony Award winner Martin Pakledinaz (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Kiss Me Kate), lighting design by Tony Award winner Kenneth Posner (The Coast of Utopia, Wicked) and sound design by Brian Ronan (Spring Awakening, Curtains).

GREASE is produced on tour by Paul Nicholas and David Ian, Nederlander Presentations, Inc. and Terry Allen Kramer by arrangement with Robert Stigwood.

The schedule for the national tour of GREASE is as follows:

- December 2 - 7, 2008 at the Providence Performing Arts Center, Providence, RI
- December 9 - 14, 2008 at the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts, East Lansing, MI
- December 16 - 21, 2008 at Palace Theatre, Columbus, OH
- December 30, 2008 - January 4, 2009 at the Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
- January 6 - 18, 2009 at the Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
- January 20 - February 1, 2009 at the Aronoff Center for the Arts, Cincinnati, OH
- February 3 - 15, 2009 at the Hippodrome Theatre, Baltimore, MD
- February 18 - 22, 2009, Omaha Performing Arts Center, Omaha, NE
- February 24 - March 1, 2009 at the Music Hall, Tucson, AZ
- March 3 - 8, 2009 at the Civic Theatre, San Diego, CA
- March 10 - 22, 2009 at the Pantages Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
- March 24 - April 19, 2009 at the Golden Gate Theatre, San Francisco, CA
- April 21 - 26, 2009 at Keller Auditorium, Portland, OR
- April 28 - May 10, 2009 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Costa Mesa, CA
- May 12 - 30, 2009 at the 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle, WA
- June 2 - 7, 2009 at Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, Appleton, WI
- June 9 - 28, 2009, Fisher Theatre, Detroit, MI