Review: GREASE at PORTHOUSE/Kent State University

An incomplete review of Porthouse’s rockin’ GREASE
 
Roy Berko
(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)

 

Sometimes going to the theater can have unexpected outcomes.  Such is the case of my reviewing the opening shows at Kent State University’s Porthouse for the past two years. 

 

Last year, for some unexplainable reason, rather than on opening night, I found myself at the preview performance of Porthouse’s FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.  The lead, who was to play Tevya, was ill, so his understudy went on in his place.  (Yes, this is live theater and the show must go on!)  The replacement was quite good and I found the production fulfilling the intent and purpose of the writers, but my review contained the warning of it lacking in “whole play” comments.

 

This year, for GREASE, I got to the theatre on the right date, the cast was all healthy and the curtain went up on time!  Everything was going along smoothly, until about 10 minutes into Act II.  Then mother nature and chaos took over. 

 

Sirens went off, indicating the possibility of a tornado.  The cast fled the stage, the audience flooded the aisles in a mad rush to get to their cars before the storm hit.

 

Unfortunately, some of the show’s highlight songs, “Beauty School Dropout,” “There Are Worse Things I Could Do,” the reprise of “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” and the reprise of “We Go Together,” were not performed! 

 

This review, therefore, like my last year’s FIDDLER critique, is a less then complete evaluation of the production.  But, the show/review must go on, so take this into account as we examine GREASE.   

 

1971 was a groundbreaking time on Broadway for American musical theatre.

 

That year saw the rise of rock musicals and the opening of such massive theatrical hits as GODSPELL, Stephen Schwartz and John Michael Tebelak’s “Day By Day,” epic, ON THE TOWN, and GREASE.

 

GREASE is a musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey.

Named after the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as greasers (tons hair gel adorn the male youth), is set in 1959 at the fictional Rydell High School. 

In actuality, it is based on the real Taft High School in Chicago.  The plot follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of the teen angst of that era.

The score borrows heavily from the sounds of early rock and roll.  “The book mentions social issues such as teenage pregnancy, peer pressure, and gang violence; its themes include love, friendship, teenage rebellion, and sexual exploration during adolescence.”

Jacobs described the show's basic plot as “a subversion of common tropes of 1950s cinema, since the female lead, who in many 1950s films transformed the alpha male into a more sensitive and sympathetic character, is instead drawn into the man's influence and transforms into his wild, roguish fantasy.”

GREASE's 3,388-performance run was, at the time, the longest in Broadway history. It became a successful feature film,had two Broadway revivals, a TV show, and is a staple of regional theatre, summer stock, community theatre, high school and middle school drama groups.

On the surface, GREASE appears an easy show for teens and post-teens to perform as, mainly , the cast is playing people similar to themselves.  Right? No, wrong!

The show is about the 1970 youth…not the cyber, Trump-influenced, 2026 teens.  The era is before birth control devices, cell phones and laptops. 

Today’s kids, and even many of the people who direct and do the technical aspects of the show weren’t even alive in the greaser-era.  It is not easy for today’s youth to be these kids.  They can’t identify with the attitudes, dancing and even the walking styles of that day.  What was “shocking” then, isn’t shocking today.  What it meant to be a “good” girl it not the same.

The clothing was different.  Male teens staples—leather motorcycle jackets, tight tees (with a pack of “cigs” placed into the short-sleeved arm material), rolled denim jeans, platform shoes, and heavily greased hair were “in.”

To dress like a 70s female,  the look included high-waisted flare jeans, maxi dresses, peasant tops, and platform shoes. Earthy tones, bright psychedelic prints, and fabrics like satin, leather and  denim were the vogue.  Identifying clothes were club jackets (in this show, the Pink Ladies shiny jackets).  Letter sweaters separated the jocks from the greasers. (The insiders, from the outsiders.)

The highlight of the Porthouse show is Martin Cespedes’s inventive, era-right choreography, the smooth flow of Terri Kent’s story development and Jennifer Korecki’s musicians and musical sound. 

More emphasis on the era’s attitudes, spoken sounds and rhythms, and uniformly correct costuming, would have helped set the right tone for the show.

Solid versions of “Freddy, My Love,” and “We Go Together” added to the story telling.  “Grease is the Word” and Summer Nights” lite up the stage.

Thomas Anstine (a well-scrubbed, macho-lite Danny) and a pleasant though, not good girl-enough Sandy (Lucia Lazzara-Goodrich), displayed well-toned singing voices.  One could have wished for more fun in “Mooning” and a more sarcastic sound in “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee.”

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  GREASE, Porthouse-style, is a nostalgic reminder of the era of mid-1900’s and left those of a certain-age satisfied and maybe those of the Information Age/Digital Age asking “what was the attitude, grease and angst” all about.  
 
GREASE runs until JUNE 27 at Porthouse Theatre, on the grounds of Blossom Music Center.  For tickets call 330-672-3884 or go online to www.porthousetheatre.com.
 
NEXT UP AT PORTHOUSE:  JULY 7-18, SIDE-SHOW IN CONCERT.

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