Grease – Theatre Royal, Norwich

Book, Music and Lyrics: Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey
Director: Nikolai Foster

Grease is a classic piece of musical theatre, brought to new levels of household recognition by the iconic 1978 movie staring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. This incarnation of the stage show from Nikolai Foster takes the show back to its origins with the Burger Town Boys and giving us a little more insight into the rest of the teens, but this does raise a question as to whether a 1970s musical can still hold its ground in the innovative world of the modern musical theatre landscape.

While to movie focuses on the relationship between Danny and Sandy, the stage musical gives us the wider experience of the students of Rydell High and all the hormones that come with the seniors’ transition from teens to adulthood. This shift in tone and focus means that the show is less burning up the quarter mile than it is slowly trundling there. Most of the first act is given over to building tensions between the Pink Ladies and the Burger Palace Boys (T-Birds in the movie), but with no real stakes it falls a little flat. This slow burn also means we get very little of Danny (Marley Fenton) and Sandy (Hope Dawe) together and what we do have doesn’t have much in the way of chemistry, although separately they both deliver some accomplished solos.

For the most part Rebecca Stenhouse steals the show as Rizzo, and clearly has far more potential that then script is willing to allow her, particularly during There are Worse Things I Could Do when she takes the character to a level that entirely surpasses what she should able to do here. In considering standout performances, Imogen Malone as Jan and Lewis Day as Roger create an unexpected tender moment during Mooning which leaves the audience wishing they could have had more of the pair. Joe Gash as Teen Angel also certainly deserves a mention as it seems to be a role he was born to play; he gives the part exactly the right vibe and is so much fun to watch.

The rest of the cast bring a great deal of energy, although George Michaelides brings perhaps a little too much of the quasi-Italian accent, but there is a limit to what can be done with what they are given. The script is jumbled and leaps from place to place without room for character development and while the choreography (Arlene Phillips) feels time appropriate to when the musical debuted, given the musical landscape now it just feels old.

It is the cast that make this show, and from the way the audience is on their feet during the megamix singalong at the close of the show that is going to be more than enough to carry on the fun and nostalgia for a long time to come. This show is automatic, systematic, hydromantic, but it’s got a bit of a misfire.

Runs Until: 8 June 2024