"Tell me more, tell me more..."
- Kaylin M
- Nov 14, 2017
- 5 min read
"... Like did he have a car?" The movie Grease is a cult classic that came out in 1978. It is a movie that all of our mothers have seen and know every word too. It's a movie that I've also seen multiple times and always watch it when I'm home with my mom and it is on TV. The movie starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as the iconic Danny and Sandy duo, but did you know that the movie originated as a play (I didn't)? The play was released earlier in the 1970s and there are many differences between the two, but I'll get into that later.
On November 4th, I went to go see Grease the Musical in Toronto with my mom and my friend Kristen. It was performed at the Winter Elgin Theatre in Downtown Toronto across from the Eaton Centre. The three of us were all so excited because we love the movie Grease so much! I'm just going to jump the gun and say we were all disappointed, but again, I'll get to that later. I want to start of by saying that the Winter Elgin Theatre is breathtaking! It may not look like much from the outside, but inside it's a multi-leveled ornate theatre. The walls are painted with a forest scene all the way up to the skyline and the ceiling was covered in lanterns and fall coloured leaves, so you truly felt like you were in the forest of a fairytale.
Before we went to the show, we went for dinner. As always, Toronto was busy on a Saturday night, so it was hard to get in to any of the restaurants, so we decided to try the Pickle Barrel. I had never been to the Pickle Barrel, but it was quite delicious. Unfortunately I didn't order anything that came with one of their famous pickles, but I had their Fish Taco and Cajun Chicken Taco, and they were both good. My mom ordered a steak sandwich and we expected shredded pieces of meat, but it came with the largest slab of steak I've ever seen on a sandwich. It was impressive.
Afterwards we walked down to the theatre and awaited for the doors to open. Once they did, we found our seats up on the balcony. I've been to a few musicals in Toronto and the theatres were huge, so I was worried when I bought balcony seats that they wouldn't be all that great, but they ended up being great seats! The theatre itself wasn't too big, I think I've been to larger University auditoriums, so it seemed that every seat was a good seat. Like I said previously, the three of us were all very excited because we all love Grease. There were people dressed up in Pink Lady and T-Bird outfits and the whole place was buzzing with Grease conversations. Sandy was played by Janel Parrish whom you may recognize as the mysterious brunette Mona from Pretty Little Liars - so needless to say people weren't too happy that Sandy was going to be a brunette. It was kind of funny that they kept Sandy as a brunette, but put wigs on so many other characters. They even had a wig designer in the production crew, but yet Sandy didn't get a wig (until the very end when it looked more like she had a skunk on her head than a badass perm ... don't get me started on that). Once the show started, we all got into the songs and the dancing, it started off well. Grease became such a classic because of the movie ... I didn't even know it was originally a play until I had done some research. So, I think most people went there expecting the movie and they got the play.
Here is a list of some of the significant differences:
First off, Danny takes Rizzo to the dance, then dances with Patty, and ends up with Cha-Cha VS. in the movie he takes Sandy and ends up with Cha-Cha. By the way, they took the beautiful actress that played Cha-Cha and made her look like a cheap hooker ... it was not pretty.
Also, the rival gang known as The Scorpions are known in the play as the Flaming Dukes and they are never seen; which means that the famous race scene never happens.
Another big difference is that there is no graduation carnival in the play! One of the best scenes in the movie! In the production we saw, they randomly created a carnival immediately before intermission, but didn't surround it with any context. Their monologues were prepping for the dance scene in the second act by asking each other to be dates and whatnot, but then did this whole carnival scene. It truly made no sense and they tried to add in some aspects of commedia dell'arte, but it just didn't fit.
One thing that really bothered Kristen was that, when Sandy saw Rizzo making fun of her ("look at me ... I'm Sandra Dee"), they got in a full blown cat fight. Sandy is such a pure and innocent character that this felt so OUT of character for her, this is just not something that Sandy would do.
Finally ... I have to mention this because it was so out there ... it is well known that at the end of the movie Danny becomes a jock to impress Sandy, but she shows up all badass in her leather outfit and they say "screw it, let's be rebels together". Well in the play this never happens in the sense that Danny isn't a jock at the end of the play. That's fine, that's not what bothered me. The thing that was crazy, was that when Sandy shows up, Danny is back to being a T-Bird ... fine now they match ... except then, the cast strips Danny down to his underwear (which wasn't bad to see as he had quite the nice body) and then they put him in a business suit. WHAT? I'm so confused because now they aren't compatible visually and ... a business suit?!
I have to say that overall, Grease the Musical was a good production ... if you aren't a fan of the movie. I mean, it was a fun show with singing and dancing; and the scenes were well done. The acting was good (enough) and same with the singing; as well the backdrops and props were well done representations of the scenes in the movie ... so that was okay. All I'm saying is that if you go to see Grease as a live production ... and are expecting the movie ... you (like us) will be greatly disappointed. I'm sure I may get backlash for this opinion, but I'm just the messenger on so many people's opinions of this production that I heard while I was there. Now, on the other hand, many people loved it. I know a few people that had a good time and thought it was a fun show ... there was drinking involved in their nights, but to each their own.
It was still a good night spent with my mom and one of my best friends, so I can't say anything bad about that. We had a great time catching up and laughing at how lost we were watching the play. But hey! Maybe you're going to see Grease the Musical and I'm forewarning you of the changes so you know what to expect and will have a great time ... maybe you won't. Maybe your a fan of the play or knew already that it was originally a play and won't be as confused as I was. Anyways, the thing that matters is more spending time with your family and friends spending time together. I'm sure you'll still have a great time ... we still did!
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