GREASE Comes To Grand Rapids 3/1-6

Grease is coming to DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids, MI from March 1-6, 2011. Tickets are now on sale and are available at Ticketmaster.com and charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000.

Eddie Mekka will star in the tour as DJ "Vince Fontaine." Eddie is best remembered as Carmine Ragusa on the hit TV classic, "Laverne & Shirley." The tour also stars Grand Rapids native Audrey Filson making her national tour debut in the role of "Patty Simcox." Audrey attended South Christian High School and graduated from Belmont University. She performed locally with the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre.

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 version of GREASE^TM features, for the first time ever in a Broadway production, songs from the smash hit 1978 film, including "Sandy," the Academy Award nominated song "Hopelessly Devoted to You," "Grease" and "You're the One That I Want," the latter two of which were #1 hits on the Billboard Top 100 list. These songs are 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^TM originated in Chicago and made its premiere at The Kingston Mines Theater in 1971 before making its New York premiere off-Broadway at the Eden Theatre on February 14, 1972. After 128 sold-out performances, the show made the transition to Broadway taking up residence at the Broadhurst Theatre on June 7, 1972. GREASE^TM was nominated for seven Tony Awards in its spectacular initial run. On November 21, 1972, the show moved to the Royale Theatre before making its final transfer on January 20, 1980 to the Majestic Theatre. It closed as the longest running show in Broadway history after playing 3,388 performances.

In 1978, GREASE^TM became a hugely popular feature film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in the lead roles. A Broadway revival opened on May 11, 1994 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre where it played 1,503 performances and won three Tony Award nominations. The most recent Broadway production of GREASE^TM opened on August 19, 2007 and was nominated for a 2008 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

The film version of GREASE^TM produced one of the best-selling soundtracks in history and is the highest-grossing movie musical of all time. The two Travolta/Newton-John duets, "You're The One That I Want" and "Summer Nights" were both #1 hits and appear on the United Kingdom's All-Time Best-Selling Singles list. The song "Hopelessly Devoted to You" was nominated for an Academy Award (1979) for Best Music - Original Song and the film's title song, "Grease" was a #1 smash hit single for singer Frankie Valli.

Grease is affordably priced from $27.50 and will perform 8 shows at DeVos Performance Hall from March 1-6, 2011. The performance schedule is Tuesday-Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday at 8:00pm, Saturday at 2:00pm & 8:00pm, and Sunday at 1:00pm & 6:30pm. Tickets are available at the DeVos Performance Hall box office, all Ticketmaster locations, www.Ticketmaster.com or via phone at 1-800-745-3000. Group discounts are available by calling 616-742-6185 or e-mail groupsales@smggr.com.

For more information on the Fifth Third Bank Broadway Grand Rapids Series visit www.BroadwayGrandRapids.com.