Jeri Tidwell Photography
We’re probably at a time in history where, unless you’re a very young child, you have heard of Grease, most likely the classic 1978 feature film that starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as the leads Danny and Sandy. Then in 2016 the Fox television network produced a live television special that melded elements from the movie and the original 1972 Broadway show (which itself has been re-adapted for the stage in the wake of the movie’s immense popularity), so you have to have been living under a rock to never have heard of Grease. But that familiarity with the movie may have theatre-goers coming to see Toby’s Dinner Theatre’s new production of the show a bit surprised by what is on stage.
Here, director Mark Minnick has gone back to the original source material to bring the O.G. Grease to life once again. There’s no drag race (which would be hard to do in a small theatre), no carnival, songs are in different places than they are in the movie, Teen Angel is not Frankie Avalon … so if you’re a fan of the movie, consider this production of Grease as seeing this story for the first time. Of course, you probably know the story but in a nutshell students from Rydell High School are returning after the summer break and bad boy Danny Zuko tries to impress his friends with stories about the girl he met at the beach. New girl Sandy tells her new friends about the boy she met at the beach. One of the girls, Betty Rizzo, puts two and two together and ‘introduces’ Sandy to Danny to watch the sparks fly, sending Danny into a panic in front of his friends because this sweet, young woman is definitely not like anyone Danny has dated before. This being high school, everyone has relationship drama and if our two lovebirds will eventually be the one that they want.
It’s a very different experience watching Grease on the stage of Toby’s Dinner Theatre because you go in with certain expectations and while there are some familiar elements, it’s quite different in places as well. Not that that’s a bad thing. It’s interesting to see a different take on material that we’re all pretty familiar with. Minnick imbues the show with a fond nostalgia of the late 1950s through his cast and the production design. Everyone feels properly of the period — or at least what we imagine that period to be based on how we’ve seen characters like these portrayed in movies and on TV — and it all works very well. Minnick is also the show’s choreographer and once again he’s come up with a couple of showstoppers with the ‘Greased Lighting’ and ‘Hand Jive’ numbers. Both feature some tight choreography in this tight space but no one misses a beat, no one bumps into each other, which I always find a bit miraculous. That must be especially difficult when the entire cast is on stage for the ‘Hand Jive’ and even more difficult when you have a large, mobile prop like a car (or a golf cart dressed as a car) on stage. But Minnick and his amazing cast pull it all off with the greatest of ease.
Jeri Tidwell Photography
And the cast. Matt Hirsh and Nicki Elledge have some huge footprints to follow in with Travolta and Newton-John pretty much indelible in the roles of Danny and Sandy. But they each make the characters their own. Hirsh does a great job of switching between the greaser and the lovestruck puppy, sometimes in the same scene as he wrestles with looking uncool in front of his friends while trying not to turn Sandy off with his tough guy behavior. Hirsh carries it off perfectly and he’s got a great voice to boot. Elledge’s Sandy is the stereotypical good girl and we feel for her when Danny can’t lower that facade he builds when he’s around his friends. Our hearts break a little for her every time she tries to rekindle what they had at the beach and he screws it up, but we know she’ll always be hopelessly devoted to him. Elledge brings such sweetness to the role and she really gets to shine with Sandy’s signature number near the end of the show. If the audience didn’t care about Danny and Sandy, this show would go nowhere but Hirsh and Elledge draw us in and root for them each time someone tries to tear them apart. These are definitely two winning performances.
It’s hard to single cast members out because they’re all great, but sometimes the actor gets lucky with a character who gets to steal a bit more of the spotlight than the other supporting members. While characters like Patty Simcox, Eugene, Jan, Marty, Doody, Roger, Kenickie, Sonny and Cha-Cha all have moments, there are two who just have that little extra to work with. First is Allie O’Donnell as Frenchy steals every scene she’s in and the one Pink Lady who actually tries to be nice to Sandy. O’Donnell makes Frenchy impossibly bubbly but we feel for the girl who drops out of high school and beauty school … but at least she gets her own number because of it (featuring the angelic voice of Crystal Freeman as the Teen Angel). The other is Maggie Dransfield as Rizzo, the tough as nails leader of the Pink Ladies. She enjoys stirring the pot with Sandy and Danny, basically the villain of the piece but Dransfield doesn’t make her so hateful during the humiliating to Sandy ‘Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee’ number. We feel for Rizzo when she has a bit of late action drama that allows Dransfield the showstopping ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’ number. Whenever Dransfield is on stage you can’t take your eyes off of her, and she brings the house down with that final solo of hers.
Jeri Tidwell Photography
Every one of the main cast brings their characters to life. It great to see a show like this where you’re so close to the action that you almost feel as if you’re part of it. That closeness also lets you see the actors’ faces much better than you could if this were presented on a proscenium stage. In the round, you can see their facial expressions and body language and I take great joy in watching the actors who may be in a scene reacting to the action around them. Everyone one of them looks like this is the first time they’ve seen any of this happen. I loved seeing Paul Roeckell as Kenickie smile and react to something Danny was doing. I watched Maggie Dransfield bop to the music of the dance contest even though Rizzo was already out of the competition. Each and every one of these talented people on the Toby’s stage performs this show eight times a week as if it were the first time every night. And the night I saw the show, it was the second time that day they had done it! Plus they wait tables before the show and during intermission!
The show’s technical aspects — scenic design, costume design, lighting and sound — are all top notch (Rizzo’s black and red dress for the dance contest is particularly outstanding), and the orchestra led by Ross Scott Rawlings never hits a wrong note (although sound design-wise they do occasionally drown out the performers). But over all it’s another terrific production that includes a delicious meal, dessert and the specialty drink ‘The Pink Lady’, a frozen strawberry drink that comes in adult and kid-friendly versions. If you’re looking for an evening of entertainment for the whole family, head on over to Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia, MD where Grease is the word.
Grease runs about 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission.
Toby’s Dinner Theatre
Check our Ticketmaster link for ticket availability.
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