More than 30 years after it hit Broadway, Grease still draws audiences. The Dance Workshop Theatre Company brings it to Bishop McLaughlin High.
By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published November 7, 2003
The new 880-seat Eleanor Dempsey Performing Arts Center at the $22-million Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School will get a rocking inauguration on Nov. 15 when The Dance Workshop Theatre Company performs the first Broadway musical ever done there.
It's the rollicking Grease, the surprise runaway hit that ran for 3,388 performances on Broadway in 1972 before it became a movie blockbuster in 1978, riding on the popularity of Saturday Night Fever star John Travolta to put it over the top.
Grease is a satire of 1950s music, clothes and morals among teenagers, set in Chicago at the fictional Rydell High School.
In it, greaser Danny Zuko, in ducktails and leather jacket, falls for the new girl in school, the prim and proper Sandy Dumbrowski. They are harassed by the powerful girl-gang "Pink Ladies" and teased by Danny's pals, the "Burger Palace Boys."
Sandy must decide whether to remain virtuous or go along with the crowd.
Along the way are some big dance numbers and boffo music: the romantic Summer Nights, high-energy We Go Together and Greased Lightning, the comical Beauty School Dropout, Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee and the plaintive There Are Worse Things I Could Do.
The Dance Workshop Theatre Company's 34-member cast includes students from five area high schools.
"There's a lot of choreography and singing," said director Rob Herbst, who was hired by Dance Workshop owner Gloria Tyndall to head the school's theater program. Herbst has directed Annie, Fiddler on the Roof, Peter Pan and Little Women at other venues and recently was at the helm for Dance Workshop's production of Fame, the Musical at Pasco-Hernando Community College.
The role of Sandy Dumbrowski will be played by two different girls at the two different performances.
"We had such a big turnout when we auditioned, and they were both so good and did it equally well," Ms. Tyndall said. "We wanted to give them both the opportunity to play in the show." In fact, all the female leads are switched between performers each show, she said, and for the same reason.
In the 4 p.m. show, Sandy will be played by Ada Marinelli, who played Baby June in Gypsy for a Ruth Eckerd Hall production and was in Puss 'n' Boots and A Midsummer Night's Dream at Richey Suncoast Theatre.
Springstead High School student Kristina McCabe will play Sandy at the 8 p.m. show. She had the lead role of Sara Crew in A Little Princess and played Heratio in Canned Hamlet. She is a senior member of The Dance Workshop's competition team "Dancesation."
Luis Rickert, a River Ridge High School junior, will play Danny Zuko. He was Joe Vegas in Fame and was featured in the recent River Ridge drama show, Tapestry.
At a glance
WHAT: Grease, a musical
WHERE: Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School's Eleanor Dempsey Performing Arts Center, 13651 Hayes Road, Hudson (north of State Road 52 a mile west of the Suncoast Parkway)
WHEN: 4 and 8 p.m. Nov. 15.
TICKETS: $12. Call (727) 845-3626. Also at the door.
