Grease - Eighth Performance (May 2009)

This review is mean but I do change my mind about them later. Also it is just my opinion, not everyone will agree. Actually even I don't agree with it now...


Well what can I say? I’m never going to complain about Danny Bayne and Nicola Brazil again.

Ray Quinn is a great singer and an amazing actor but he hid it well. You could tell he’s a great dancer and it’s great to see a Danny who really is a worthy winner of the dancing contest – Ray does seem to be just as good as the excellent dancers in the ensemble. As for the character, he’s got the obnoxious part perfectly and it’s easy to believe he really likes Sandy but the thing about Danny is, we need to like him despite everything. Danny Bayne’s Danny is a prat but he’s a prat with charm and whilst Stuart Ramsay’s Danny is a bit of a wanker you forgive him because the next minute you’re wetting yourself because he’s so funny. Ray can’t do Danny’s geeky laugh (not his fault, I can’t do it either) but if he can’t do that geeky laugh he needs to make up another one.

And his singing… well I know Ray is a good singer so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was doing all that crooning, weird staccatos and dodgy note values on purpose. But it’s not right. Not for Sandy (the song I mean). It’s a song about emotions, it’s not the time to show off all the fancy things you can do with your voice. Sing it with simplicity and make it sound beautiful and I’m sure it’s not just me who’ll be a lot more moved. I’m sure Ray is capable of doing it.

As for Emma Stephens as Sandy it would be really unfair to say she sang flat all the time because quite a lot of the time she was sharp. She did sing ‘You’re the One that I want’ well as this does suit her voice and it is nice to have a Sandy who can hit the low note so easily in the opening duet. But anything more lyrical, anything too fast and she couldn’t quite do it. And why should she be able to do it? She’s only twenty-three which is really young to be singing a leading role in a big West End theatre (maybe Ray is too young as well, his voice is really well developed for a twenty year old but maybe not developed enough). Emma’s voice sounded pressured which might be a sign of a bad night (her understudy wasn’t available) or it might be a sign she’s working it too hard. Eight shows a week is a lot.

I quite like how Emma performs the role though. She’s so unbearably sweet and gives such a strong impression of trying too hard to be nice, it’s easy to believe there is a sexy Sandy lurking under there somewhere. But she didn’t seem totally fake, more like one of those people who hasn’t got the confidence to be herself. And she’s an amazing dancer. She doesn’t do a lot of dancing but you can tell

Faye Brookes (the new Frenchy) wasn’t there and presumably Alison Hefferon and Sophie Zucchini (her understudies) weren’t ready go on as Frenchy so Emily Bull came back. I hope Faye’s better soon but it was a really lovely surprise to see Emily. She was even better than I remembered. Yes Frenchy’s shallow and she cares about her appearance too much and she’s not the most intelligent character in the world but she’s a really nice person. Benjamin Ibbott was gorgeous as Doody. I couldn’t get the seat I wanted so he winked at someone else but I wasn’t very jealous, there’s always next time. I love the dancing he does in Greased Lightnin’.

Laura Wilson is still Jan, she’s someone I’ve moaned about but I’ve got no idea why. She was adorable and so funny. I love how she says ‘whyyyyy’ when Roger asks her if she’s got a date for the dance. Michael Melmoe is the new Roger and I’ve totally fallen in love with him. He’s one of those really cute and slightly chubby people and that suits the character of Roger really well. There’s this one scene where Roger’s eating a cheeseburger and one of his friends reminds him he’s not supposed to be eating that because it’s Friday. This is actually a Catholic thing, not eating meat on Friday, but I bet lots of people in the audience won’t know about that (he does mention Confession but even if you don’t know what that is you can probably guess) so it’s good to have a Roger who has another reason to stay away from cheeseburgers on at least one day of the week. Michael’s Roger is so sweet and he’s got a gorgeous voice, really beautiful.

I especially liked Stuart Ramsay as Kenickie this time and Natalie Langston as Rizzo, it must give them an extra energy working with new people, in a way it makes their roles different because they’re relating to the other characters in different ways. Jamie Tyler, Kristina Macmillan and Jason Capewell also stayed as Eugene, Cha Cha and Vince/Teen Angel (now Jason I don’t mind chest hair as a rule but that was scary). The only big differences are that Jamie is now covering Vince/Teen Angel as well as Doody (I think his bottom would be idea for the Angel’s silver trousers) and Kristina’s surname has changed from MacMillan to Macmillan, in parts of the programme anyway.

Robyn Mellor was Marty, she seemed a little bit posed and fake which is just what the character needs to be. She could have been identical triplets with the other Martys I’ve seen (Emma Stephens and her first cover Emma Green). Lizzi Franklin was really interesting as Patty. Emma Green’s Patty was one of those infuriatingly perky cheerleader types and Danielle Crockford (her understudy) had her own interpretation of the role but she was basically a similar type. Lizzi however is a really stroppy, sometimes sulky Patty. I really like her. Marie Daly was a surprisingly jolly Miss Lynch – it worked and in a way that made her even scarier as she changed so suddenly from happy to angry.

I don’t know the ensemble very well yet. This is the only performance I’ve been to where there weren’t any official understudies performing (which means at least one role sung by an ensemble member) although I obviously still haven’t seen a complete cast because Emily Bull replaced Faye Brookes and I don’t think Charlotte Bull (the Dance Captain, don’t know if she’s any relation to Emily) was there either. Four members of the ensemble are only covering one role and three of them are second covers so I might never see them. The ensemble member who stood out for me was the dark-haired girl with the really big smile who was mostly Downstage Left. I think she was probably Niamh Bracken, Holly Fletcher, Rebecca Hodge or Sophie Zucchini which doesn’t exactly cut it down. But she definitely wasn’t Alison Hefferon unless she’s dyed her hair.

I thought I knew who Craig Daniel Adams was because it says he played Toby in Hollyoaks but apparently he wasn’t the mad Toby who went around murdering people, he was the cringeworthy camp limpet Toby who made people want to kill him. I think Grease represents a big step up for him. Luke Jackson is now the Assistant Dance Captain. Dance Captains have to do all sorts of weird stuff and not all of it’s to do with dancing. They have to deal with all the understudies, telling them which role they’re playing and then getting them to rehearse. I think I’d like to do that. I’d be asking the girls to repeat their knicker flashing bits and then I’d have the guys doing the shower dance in their little towels all day. So I probably wouldn’t be a very good Dance Captain really. I’d be more a sort of Resident Pervert.

I’m not very observant but I did notice a couple of changes. In Greased Lightnin’, I’m pretty sure there used to be only about 4 male dancers who come onto the stage and do back flips and things but this time there seemed to be millions of them. And Jan calls Roger Porky instead of Chicken Legs.