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Its press night. A house full of often jaded reviewers with a "show me"
attitude. After all, here's a show starring two youngsters who didn't get
their gigs through the "work your way up from the chorus" route, or even the
endless cycle of open auditions in dilapidated halls all over the theater
district. No. They "won" the "right" to star on Broadway by winning a
contest on a "reality" television show! So - what's the verdict? They are
fine. Yes, really fine - singing, dancing, mugging in a revival of a
thin-as-tissue teen/sock hop musical. Max Crumm and Laura Osnes acquit
themselves nicely, avoiding any embarrassment and thrilling those who rooted
for them on "Grease: You're The One That I Want," and giving a sense of hope
to those who can identify with the triumph of innocence and innate ability
even without the carefully developed skill and craft that normally marks the
performances of stars at this level. Of course, "fine" isn't exactly the
adjective producers look for when they pull quotes from reviews - but it is
the honest word for the performances that most potential audience members
know or care about. They may sing that "Grease" is the word. But truthfully,
"Fine" is the word. |
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Storyline: The 1959 school year
is getting underway at Rydell High. Crises
abound. Who goes with whom to the hop? Should the new girl go steady with
the boy she met over the summer? What would dropping out of beauty school do
to a girl’s life? Will having even a junker of a
car improve a boy’s social life?
Grease was an early example of what
became a rage for 50s nostalgia. It opened two years before TV’s Happy
Days and four years before John Travolta appeared in Welcome Back
Kotter. Its view of the 1950s was less
idealized than that of its sanitized followers. Then, in 1978,
Grease was turned into a John
Travolta, Olivia Newton-John movie that carried the sanitization even
further, filtering the songs through the then-contemporary Bee-Gee’s sound.
Yet later the talented director/choreographer Tommy Tune revived the show on
Broadway, viewing the 50s through rose colored glasses that gave everything
a hot pink hue. That revival’s pink toned tour was seen in every city of any
size around the country. As a result, productions of
Grease these days are usually an
exercise in nostalgia for the 70s and not for the 50s.
Director/Choreographer Kathleen Marshall directs her cast to sell every one
of the dozen and a half songs as if it were the big hit of the show. She
straddles the line between a full out return to the concept of the 1972
original and a recreation of either the movie or the 1994 Tommy Tune
version. Not wanting to disappoint, she interpolates those songs from the
movie that fans expect to hear ("Hopelessly Devoted to You" "Sandy" and, of
course, the song that gave the television contest show its name: "You're The
One That I Want").
Max Crumm struts his stuff as "Danny Zuko" with an
energetic intensity, and Laura Osnes' "Sandy" is simultaneously sweet and
sexy. Both are in good voice with the ability to sell a song and there is a
chemistry between them that is clear and appealing, making them a pair you
want to support. Two casting choices in the subordinate roles work less well
than the television-directed casting of the leads. Jenny Powers as "Rizzo"
simply comes across as too old even in this production where none of the
high school "kids" really seem to be in their teens. The very talented
Matthew Saldívar plays "Kenickie" and he would be fine in any other
production supporting another "Danny," but he is too similar in body type,
facial characteristics and, as it turns out, costume. Those who don't come
into the theater knowing Max Crumm from the television series may find
themselves confused at times between Crumm and Saldívar. Good, solid support
comes from Ryan Patrick Binder as "Doody," Jeb Brown as the hand jiving disc
jockey, Stephen R. Buntrock in the one-scene/one-song role of the Teen Angel
and Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Everidge making their Broadway debuts as "Jan"
and "Roger."
Over the past few years, Kimberly
Grigsby has done a great deal to increase the visibility of the conductor on
Broadway. When the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at
Lincoln Center taped The Full Monty for the Theatre on Film and Tape
archive, the video director began the tape with a shot of the back of her
head with her beautiful Breck Girl hair bouncing in the opening rhythms of
the overture. Here again she is part of the show, conducting the eight-piece
band on a bridge over the top of the set. Conducting? Well, actually dancing
the rhythms from in front of a synthesizer keyboard. She's part of the show
with her disco brand of conducting. Other members of the design team have
done solid work as well. Derek McLane's colorful and inventive sets, Kenneth
Posner's brightly warm and welcoming lights and Martin Pakledinaz's costumes
(including hair-dryer helmets for the beauty parlor customers who break into
song and dance) are clever. What is more, all of it seems part of a single
vision of the show - something that seems fundamental but is almost always
an illusive goal.
Book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Additional songs by
Barry Gibb, John Farrar, Louis St. Louis and Scott Simon. Directed and
choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. Orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke.
Design: Derek McLane (set) Martin Pakledinaz (costumes) Paul Huntley (wigs
and hair) Kenneth Posner (lights) Brian Ronan (sound). Cast: Ryan Patrick
Binder, Susan Blommaert, Jeb Brown, Stephen R. Buntrock, Max Crumm, Daniel
Everidge, Allison Fischer, Natalie Hill, Robyn Hurder, Lindsay Mendez, Laura
Osnes, Jenny Powers, Matthew Saldívar, Jamison
Scott, José Restrepo, Kirsten Wyatt.
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