Q13’s M.J. McDermott Host Sing-a-Long-a Grease at The 5th Avenue Theatre, Beg. 9/7

The 5th Avenue Theatre is joining in the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the original stage version of Grease with an entertaining cinematic experience: Sing-a-Long-a Grease. Here's your chance to sport a pink wig or poodle skirt and belt out "Grease Lightning" at The 5th Avenue Theatre, at one of four screenings.

This unique, interactive show will be hosted by Seattle celebrities and friends of The 5th, M.J. McDermott and Troy L. Wageman. The duo will host together tonight, September 7, at 7:30 PM, and Saturday, September 8, at 1:30 PM. Wageman will host solo on Saturday, September 8, at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, September 9, at 1:30 PM. Before every performance, McDermott and Wageman will teach the audience the "hand-jive," distribute goodie bags, and judge the costume competition.

M.J. McDermott is an Emmy Award-winning broadcaster and is currently the meteorologist on Q13 FOX News This Morning, doing four hours of live television every weekday. She has a degree in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington where she is the first woman and TV meteorologist to win its annual weather forecasting competition. Previously, McDermott was an actor and singer in New York City and Seattle, and she performed at The 5th Avenue Theatre in The Desert Song in the 1990s. She has a degree in theater from University of Maryland. McDermott is publishing her first novel this winter based on a true story about a production of Hair she did in college.

Troy L. Wageman has performed in some of the leading musical theater houses in the country including Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, Village Theatre, ArtsWest, Seattle Musial Theatre, Houston's Theatre Under The Stars, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, The Ordway, and Lyric Light Opera. Favorite credits include: Beauty and the Beast (Gaston), The Full Monty (Ethan) Pippin (Lewis), Bat Boy (Bat Boy), West Side Story (Diesel), Brigadoon (Tommy), A Chorus Line (Don), Footloose (Willard), Cabaret, (Hanz), Peter Pan (Hook), Joseph..., Evita, How to Succeed…, Hello Dolly, and Jesus Christ Superstar.

More About Sing-a-Long-a Grease
Children and adults alike can sing along to this great movie musical, complete with on-screen lyrics and favorite songs like "You're The One That I Want," "Summer Lovin'," and "Grease Lightning." Audience members are encouraged to become a T-Bird or Pink Lady for the night and enter the ever-popular costume competition by attending decked out in their own versions of the 1950s high school garb worn at Rydell High, (e.g., poodle skirts and saddle shoes, black leather biker and powder-pink bomber jackets, chiffon scarves and skinny ties).

"It's the one that you want," says producer Ben Freedman, who previously brought Seattle Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music. "Sing-a-long-a Grease is the show that audiences have been asking for since we first presented a sing-along show back in 1999."

"Sing-a-long-a Grease is much more than 'just a movie," says Freedman. "It's an event, an interactive experience and the most fun you can have with your clothes on."

Valentine's Day 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the stage musical Grease, which premiered at the Off-Broadway Eden Theatre in downtown Manhattan, before transferring to Broadway in June, 1972. The show, about two lovers in a 1950s U.S. high school, was based on a 1971, grittier "play with incidental music" called Grease Lightning, first staged in Chicago the previous year.

In 1978, Grease became a movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. The movie was a huge hit on its first release. Twenty-five years later, it was voted the greatest musical ever in a 2003 poll conducted by UK Channel 4 for a show about the 100 greatest musicals.

The unique, interactive entertainment form known as Sing-a-Long-a is believed to have been born in a retirement home in Inverness, Scotland. Nurses wanted to involve the residents in an interactive group therapy. They screened the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and gave out song sheets so that everyone could sing along.

The idea was further developed with a screening at the Prince Charles Cinema in August of 1999. The initial eight-show run sold out, while attracting huge media attention, and ever since, regular shows have been running around the world.

The 5th Avenue Theatre is one of the nation's premier incubators for new musical theater. Since 2002, the celebrated company has produced 14 new musicals. Seven have moved on to Broadway, earning a combined 14 Tony Awards, including two for Best Musical (Hairspray and Memphis). Two more 5th Avenue productions – Scandalous and A Christmas Story – open on Broadway this fall. The 5th Avenue Theatre is also known for its world class, critically acclaimed productions of musicals chosen from both the contemporary canon and the Golden Age of Broadway.