Grease | Grand Canal Theatre

Review by: Lauren O'Toole

Title: Grease
Venue: The Grand Canal Theatre
Dates: Until the 27th August, 7.30pm
Price: €25 - €40

Director: David Gilmore
Writer: Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey
Actors: Danny Bayne, Carina Gillespie, Mary Byrne, Ricky Rojas,
Kate Somerset How, Richard Vincent, Derek Andrews, Josh Dever, Lauren Stroud, Laura Wilson, Lois Urwin.

Nutshell: For those of you deprived of the standard childhood exposure to pop-culture, Grease is a boy meets girl love story set against the backdrop of 1950s bopping and du wopping.
The Good: The music will have you fighting the urge to get up and dance in your seat. Don't worry if you lose the fight - you won't be the only one in The Grand Canal who has.
The Bad: Mary Byrne's Teen Angel costume - a terrifying blend of bizarre and hideous, topped off with the most ill-fitting trousers in all the land.

Star Rating: 4/5

You've seen the movie, you know the songs, you may have even donned a pair of pedal pushers at some point circa 1996, and now you can experience the cheesy fun in all its glory at The Grand Canal Theatre until the 27th of August. The excitement was palpable as radio DJ Vince Fontaine, played with the appropriate amount of sleaze by Jason Capewell, kicked off proceedings
with a sneak peek medley of songs leading us into the opening scenes in Rydell High and Danny and Sandy's ill-fated reunion after a summer of romance. All the memorable scenes and musical numbers are present and accounted for in Danny and Sandy's rocky path toward the eventual kiss and make-up when she finally realises he is The One that She Wants!

The iconic roles are assumed by Danny Bayne and Carina Gillespie. Both performers are polished singers and dancers and embody the kitsch couple adequately enough to almost banish the niggling memory of John Travolta and Olivia Newton John . The surprise hit of the night, however, had to be Mary Byrne's cameo role as Teen Angel. Byrne's recently acquired position as the
nation's sweetheart was cemented in The Grand Canal as the first few lines of Beauty School Drop Out were completely inaudible over the excitable whoops and cheers of the audience. While her costume was as confusing as the basic fact that she's been cast in a role normally meant for a suave and handsome man, all negatives were quickly banished as she stole the show with her energetic performance and astounding vocals.

This production of Grease takes the cheese factor to a whole new level with hilariously camp dance routines and over-the-top performances from the Pink Ladies and T-Birds. It's genuinely difficult to say what was more enjoyable - the show itself or observing the grown men and women around me mouthing the words to Grease Lightning and dancing in their seats to We Go Together. This is truly a night of guilty pleasure that will propel from the theatre with a smile on your face and off home to dig out your pedal pushers.
 

Story by EI Team | 09:00 | Friday 12th August 2011 | Theatre

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Comments

• blob

  didn't expect such a good review but pleasantly surprised.. can't wait to see it now! go on the mary..although that white suit is questionable

  Posted 12:19 | Tue 16th Aug 2011

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