Grease

Reporter: Colin Meredith
Date online: 11/06/2008

They were rockin in their seats before the show had even started for the schools production of Grease.

I know they have been rehearsing for some time for this show and the long rehearsal period really paid off.

The show was high energy throughout and the cast of over a hundred danced and sang their way through the production.

Summer Nights worked really well with the split focus between Sandy and the Pink Ladies and Danny with the Burger Palace Boys. Ruby Turner as Sandy and Richard Tolley as Danny were excellent together and held the audiences attention throughout.

Sofie Rehman as Rizzo led her gang of Joanne Seed as Frenchy, Claire Jones as Jan and Farah Rehman as Marty, in a polished rendition of Freddy My Love at the pyjama party. You believed these girls had a real bond together and they were good foils for Patty's gang led by the impressive Alexis Hobson. Alexis led her gang to great effect in a rockin cheerleader number that had the audience stamping their feet.

The show was kept moving with a minimal but effective set that made it easy to go from one musical number to the next and was complimented with some effective lighting.

Just before the interval every square inch of the stage was filled as the entire company sang us out with We Go Together.

Before the start of the second half we were treated to some energetic singing by Adam Rehman who played Johnny Casino; you could see his total enjoyment as he captivated the audience. He was backed by an excellent team of musicians led by Musical Director Amanda Whittingham.

There were more well known numbers still to come as Frenchy was well supported in Beauty School Drop Out as the girls chorus donned their silver and gold glitter wigs. The boys were in the minority in this production but still stood out with strong performances from David Buchanan as Kenickie, James Morrison as Sonny, Dean Rigby as Roger, Adam Bothwell as Doody and Jack Henry as the quirky Eugene. Even though many were playing characters the same age as themselves they took on the challenge of the different characters with great success.

We were treated to an amusing scene at the drive in Movie with Sandie and Danny as he tried to move their relationship on.

We then saw Rizzo being particularly strong in the scene at Jans party when she thought she might be pregnant and gave a moving rendition of There Are Worse Things I Could Do.

Everyone is familiar with the popular number You're The One That I Want and we were not disappointed with this electric version. The excellent Sandy came on transformed to impress Danny in black leather in this well choreographed full company number.

So much was good in this energetic show, it was particularly pleasing to see so many young people singing and dancing throughout the evening. The production team are to be complimented on their skill to get so many performing together, I'm sure the students from the school who were in the audience left the theatre wishing they had been part of this dazzling production.

Oulder Hill Community School