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Grease - Review
17 September 2008
by Louisa De Albuquerque
Rating 
Is Grease Still the Word? Originally launched with the help of ITV's reality star search Grease Is the Word, the most recent cast change has seen Susanne McFadden depart and Danny Bayne joined for a limited period by X-Factor finalist Ray Quinn.
Being a huge fan of the inimitable cult classic I went in open minded, wholly aware no one was ever going to live up to, or should be compared to my childhood husband, John Travolta or the beautiful Olivia Newton John. The overture is where the action begins as the Musical Director, Richard Beadle, dances (quite badly), and gets the audience going.
I was impressed with Ray Quinn's dancing as Arlene's Phillips choreography, although perhaps a bit dated, is still very demanding. Intriguingly enough Ray Quinn has been dancing for years and used to compete in various competitions against Danny Bayne. Bayne's performance did made me laugh on a few occasions, such as when he secretly smelt Sandy's school jumper before quickly stopping himself as he noticed he was being watched, but the archetypal Zuko ‘cool' saviour laugh, funny at first, got tiresome after the tenth go. Helped by his superb dancing (he's a former world Disco Dancing champion) I did warm to his performance but I found Bayne to be more Johnny Bravo than Danny Zuko.
There are times in the show when this show explodes such as during the T-birds ‘Greased Lightening'. This anthem is blasted out together with blistering dancing and pyrotechnics galore. And, of course, the feel-good, ‘We Go Together' which brings a great end to the First Act. I also enjoyed Teen Angel's bad comedic quips and drawling down his glittery microphone and was sure to giggle on cue with everyone else.
Nicola Brazil's performance as Sandy stayed quite constant throughout although it was plain to see that the role of Sandy is far less interesting than the Pink Ladies . Emma Stephens was excellent as the gorgeous Marty and Natalie Langston as Rizzo who's rendition of ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do' was quite moving and gave the show that bit of class that it deserved. Another stand out performance came from the sexy villainess, Cha Cha (played by Kristina Macmilan) who's risqué dance moves added real dramatic tension to the Rydell High School dance.
When the story finally reached the finale, surely the most exciting and anticipated part, it instead came and went quite abruptly. Sandy appeared in her skin tight lycra catsuit and suddenly we were swept into a Grease Mega mix. This wrapping up of the plot left me wanting a bit more but seemed to be exactly what the audience was after as the reprises of the shows hits was met by raucous clapping and singing along.
The stage show is quite different from the movie. The iconic lines are still there and the cast dance and sing through all the classic hits and even though i left without quite the euphoria of others around me, Grease delivers a fast paced and energetic night out. As for Ray Quinn and Danny Bayne they both performed well and delivered exactly what was asked of them but it was Natalie Langston's Rizzo that stole the show.
