Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts Presents GREASE Sing-a-Long, Now thru 12/30

Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts will present Sing-a-Long-a Grease for a limited engagement today, Dec. 27-30 in Stage 2.

General-admission tickets are available for $15 online at www.ScottsdalePerformingArts.org or through (480) 499-TKTS (8587).

Sing-a-Long-a Grease is a fully interactive screening of the classic film with subtitled lyrics. Audience members are encouraged to dress up like a Rydell High T-Bird or Pink Lady, and sing along and dance with John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John and the gang. Poodle skirts and saddle shoes, black leather biker and powder-pink jackets, chiffon scarves and skinny ties are recommended, as are pink wigs and greased pompadours. Each screening features a host who will lead a vocal warm-up for the audience, demonstrate how to "hand-jive," heckle in all the right places, and deploy the contents of their free goody bags. The host also will judge the costume competition and award prizes.

Valentines Day 2012 marked the 40th anniversary of the stage musical Grease, which premiered at the Off-Broadway Eden Theatre in New York City before transferring to Broadway in June 1972. The show, about two lovers in a 1950s high school, was based on an earlier, grittier "play with incidental music" first staged in Chicago the previous year. In 1978, it spawned the hit film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

The unique, interactive entertainment form known as Sing-a-long-a, meanwhile, was allegedly born in a retirement home in Inverness, Scotland. The nurses wanted to involve the residents in an interactive group therapy. They therefore wanted to screen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and gave out song sheets so that everyone could sing along. The idea was then developed in 1999, before opening at the Prince Charles Cinema in August of that year. The initial eight-show run soon sold out while attracting huge media attention. Regular Sing-a-Long-a shows have been running ever since in the United Kingdom and all around the world, including the ever-popular Sing-a-Long-a Sound of Music.

Grease is suitable for all ages. Children are welcome, although evening performances can sometimes get a little lively and so may be more suitable for older children. Running time: 2 hours and 20 minutes, including pre-show activities.