After months of work, the Broadway North Theatre Company is ready to bring a long time classic to the stage.
‘Grease’ officially opens at the E.A. Rawlinson Centre on Wednesday. The classic show focuses on the friendships and romances of a group of high school students in the 1950s, and cast members are eager to put their spin on it.
“It’s nothing but positivity and excitement,” said Brenner Holash, who plays male lead Danny Zuko, the head of the T-Bird Greasers. “We’ve worked all summer and beyond on this, and we’re just ready for people to come see all our hard work put into action.”
The stage musical Grease was first performed in 1971, but it became a cultural touchstone in 1978 when Paramount Pictures released it as a musical and romantic comedy. The film became the second highest grossing picture at the time, but it was the soundtrack that proved even more popular, ending 1978 as one of the top-selling albums of the year.
Zuko reluctantly describes himself as a “moderate Grease fan” but said he has great respect for John Travolta, whose iconic performance as Danny Zuko helped propel the movie to the top of the box office. However, he said playing the part also comes with a bit of pressure.
“He did an amazing job. He had the look. He had the dance moves, and I can only do my best,” Holash said with a laugh. “They wouldn’t give me a chin dimple prosthetic, so I can only be what I can be.”
There are a few differences between the film and the original theatre version. The biggest is the name of the female lead. In the film, it’s Sandy Olsen, but in the stage version she’s Sandy Dumbrowski, or Sandy D.
Elizabeth Chamberlain plays the role of Sandy in the Broadway North production. While she respects Grease’s cultural heft, she said it was actually the Broadway North cast and crew that made her want to take part.
“The creative team is pretty exceptional,” she said. “You have Mike Langlois directing and Karen Langlois music directing, and Ian Dickson assistant directing, and Stephanie Lokinger choreographing. That’s a quartet that is just really hard to beat. They’re just so, so phenomenal at what they do.”
Chamberlain said she also appreciates the chance to hit the stage with Holash and longtime theatre supporter Malcolm Jenkins, who was in the original Broadway North Grease production years ago.
There were also some personal reasons for wanting to take part. Sandy is a classic character in a classic role, she said, and it’s someone she won’t always be able to play.
However, she also appreciates Grease’s cultural clout.
“Grease the movie musical came to be in a very formative time for musical theatre, especially for movie musicals,” she said. “People often have Grease as one of their first introductions to theatre. Everybody has a nostalgic feeling when they hear songs from Grease. A lot of the songs were played on the radio. They’re still sung.”
Nostalgia played a big role in assistant director Ian Dickson’s decision to join the production team. Dickson’s sister was a big fan of the movie, and constantly watched the VHS version when they were kids.
As an adult, he jumped at the chance to get involved in a stage version.
“It’s kind of in my blood, this show,” he explained. “I never thought I’d get a chance to actually do this one, so when Mike Langlois called me and said he’s directing and he wanted me to be his assistant, it was an absolute no-brainer.”
Dickson said there’s a lot of pressure in bringing such a high profile piece of art to the stage. Everyone has high expectations, he said, but the case is eager to put their own spin on things.
“When it comes to the movie because people know it front to back very, very well,” he explained. “We definitely included elements of the movie here and there. You kind of have to to a certain extent, but then we also took our liberties with it, and I think that’s also really important when you’re making any kind of piece of art when you’re making your own as well, and we’ve certainly done that.”
Grease officially opens on Wednesday, Aug. 13 and runs until Friday, Aug. 22. See the E.A. Rawlinson website for a complete list of performances.
