Last Friday night I had a blast seeing Grease at the Red Mountain Theatre Company Cabaret. The layout of the theatre has been completely changed since the last time I was there (which admittedly has been a while.) But I like the new look.
I was there with a couple of friends from Montevallo which made the night extra special. There were also several of my Montevallo cohorts in the show. I am not lying when I say that the most enjoyable singing and acting came from my friends! I was very disappointed in the two leads (Sandy and Danny) and the director took it upon himself to do some serious gender-bending that I was not altogether happy with! Miss Lynch was played (and over acted something terrible) by a man. (With so few roles for older women, do you have to give the only one in this show to a dude?? Old women can be funny, too!) And the teen angel, which is usually a man, was played by a woman. This change worked much more successfully than the Miss Lynch switch since the actress and the character of teen angel were larger than life and I enjoyed her soulful rendition of “Beauty School Dropout”.
Having stage managed a production of Grease several years ago at a local high school, I did not see that the sets or costumes were anything more than we had. And although many of the smaller roles and the chorus were very talented, the main characters being so lackluster left me unsatisfied with this production.
I have to say I had a great night seeing all of my friends from school and having a Pink Lady (the featured drink -which was delicious!) The big hair of the woman in front of me caused me to list to one side during the show and I would occasionally realize I was almost resting my head on the shoulder of the stranger beside me. I would snap up to a straighter position only to find myself slouching over towards the poor person next to me again so I could see! All and all I have to agree with whomever said, “A bad night of theatre is better than a good night nearly anywhere else.” (Did anyone ever say that or did I just say it??) This was not bad, it just could have been more. But thanks to my friends, my night was great!
