I’ve seen Grease twice since I reviewed it last so I thought I should review it again. I saw loads of people performing roles for the first time (the first time when I’ve been watching I mean) and a few people for the first time for ages so I’ve got lots to write about.
I’m really liking Ray Quinn and Emma Stephens more every time I see them. There are a few occasions when I think Ray needs to do his own thing a bit more (and I do mean that in the least dirty way possible) and other times where I’d prefer it if he let the music dictate the style. But he really is a great actor and singer and he could probably sing the role in pretty much any style he wanted without actually singing badly. Emma just has an amazing vocal range. Sandy has quite a big range as far as I can tell, getting on for two octaves I think and she sounds totally comfortable with the notes at both ends. She’s beautiful too. She says you get loads of girls going back stage and saying “Can I kiss him, Emma?”. I’m scared of going backstage but if I did, I’d be saying to Ray “Can I kiss her, Ray?”. But I’d kiss Ray too while I was there. He is really cute.
But understudies Stuart Ramsay and Faye Brookes have a lot to bring to the roles as well. Stuart is the first Danny I ever saw and he’s still my favourite (no offence to Ray and Danny Bayne). Danny (the character) is a total twat but Stuart is just so funny it helps me to forgive him everything. He has some funny extra jokes the other Dannys don’t do like burping when he’s on the date with Sandy - and listen to what happens to his voice after she slams the door a bit suddenly - and he really knows how to draw out each joke without overdoing it but keeping his audience with him the whole time.
Faye just has an amazing singing voice. She doesn’t have Emma’s high notes but they still sounded lovely, just thinner than her extraordinarily strong normal voice. I don’t know if it would be possible to transpose Hopelessly Devoted to You down a couple of tones, it’s not like opera or a sung-through musical when the recitative kind of leads you into a particular key and I don’t think the orchestra are visible so they could use music (I don’t know if they usually use music during the bits where you can’t see them). Faye’s voice is beautiful and even through it’s very loud it has a real gentleness and she puts so much expression into her songs. She also wasn’t afraid to sing the opening to Hopelessly Devoted to You in a really shaky voice which was quite realistic really, she had just seen Danny snogging Cha Cha. Maybe her microphone could be turned down slightly at times, Stuart has a really nice voice but he doesn’t have her power (I don’t think anyone does!) although in You’re the One that I Want she held her hand-held microphone some distance from her mouth while Stuart tried to eat his and the balance sounded perfect then.
Faye plays Sandy as really shy which fits with the storyline well. And I don’t know if her curly hair at the end was her real hair but if so I’m really impressed with how quickly they did it and if it’s a wig I really like how they paid attention to the fact that Faye has shorter hair than the other Sandys I’ve seen, her curly hair seemed exactly the right length. It’s so hard to choose a favourite Sandy and it’s a bit mean too but Faye is right up there.
Bennett Andrews played Kenickie at both performances, I’ve seen him more often as Kenickie than as Sonny but he is great at the role. Rebecca Hodge was his Rizzo at the first performance, I really like her confident sexiness. This part of her performance reminds me a lot of Natalie Langston, who was back as Rizzo for the second performance, but in other ways they’re not similar at all although they’re both funny in her first song and moving in her second. They’re both great performers with amazing and quite different voices.
Benjamin Ibbott was the only performer who’d been there every time I’d been to Grease but in the first performance I’m reviewing he wasn’t there. Jamie Tyler took his place and although he wasn’t quite convincing physically as Doody (as Eugene he can make himself appear smaller than Danny even when Danny’s played by Ray but Doody is a more confident character except when he’s talking to Frenchy) he did the humour really well and I loved his singing. Those Magic Changes was brilliant and every time you thought he couldn’t get any better, he somehow managed it. Jamie is also the first cover for Vince/Teen Angel so I hope I get the chance to hear him in those roles as he’ll get to sing two quite long songs, different from each other and from Doody’s songs too. Benjamin was back for the second performance, he is just so cute and I love how flustered he gets when Frenchy gets close to him. If I didn’t have a boyfriend I think Benjamin might have a stalker. Ryan Quish replaced Jamie as Eugene, and he was just so cute. He does a really geeky smile and he made me smile too even when he wasn’t being funny. His Eugene seemed like a really nice person, as well as a cute little geek.
Frenchy was played by Alison Hefferon at both performances. Her Frenchy is larger than life with big gestures but she does them well and without seeming at all like the posey Marty. She’s not as sweet as most Frenchys, she seems a bit pushy but it works really well and shows what an interesting character Frenchy is, there are so many ways to play her. I also love how Laura Wilson and Michael Melmoe (who was kind enough to send me a message!) are developing their onstage relationship, trying out new things. Michael had another one-liner to open the final scene with but I can’t remember what it was. I wish I did, it really made me laugh.
James Marshall was Sonny at both performances and it sounded like he was he saying “son of a b” instead of bitch*. I thought maybe they were toning it down because there seemed to be more children in the audience than usual, but then a few minutes later Robyn Mellor as Marty said the full phrase. I love the way Robyn makes Marty seem so completely fake, yet it’s such a convincing performance. Jason Capewell is someone I’ve always criticised but now I’ve finally, after twelve performances, realised how funny he is. It must be difficult playing two characters who fancy themselves so much and making them likeable. I still wouldn’t say I liked his characters but in the last two performances I finally realised that Jason probably isn’t like that himself, he probably just sees it all as a really funny joke. And he is funny, he really is. And I don’t mind chest hair really. My horse Angel has hair all over his body and he’s really gorgeous.
Charlotte Bull was definitely there at the first performance and it was great to see her again. She was in the ensemble but she has such a strong stage presence, she really catches your eye – which is probably why I tend to assume she’s not there on the occasions I don’t notice her. The ensemble are all fantastic and they work together well but from the girls. Charlotte and Sophie Zucchini (I think it’s her, she does handstands in Born to Hand Jive) are the two who really stand out for me as individuals but I love all of them. In the first performance I noticed Charlotte walking onto the stage and standing in the background during Scene 1, all she did was stand in the background but she made such a big contribution to the scene.
I think I recognised Holly Fletcher, she was twirling a baton during the opening song, the second cover Patty, Alison Hefferon, was on as Frenchy, I thought it must be Holly. She’s got lovely hair too, a similar colour to Lizzi Franklin, the really funny main Patty. Of the boys in the ensemble, I kept noticing one at the last performance I attended. He had a really lovely smile and I think it was Luke Jackson but it could have been any of them. I am so bad at recognising people and the flashing lights in Grease makes it even harder. If the main characters, especially the girls, weren’t so distinctively dressed, I’d probably have real trouble even knowing who they were.
*actually they all say this but it took me like 11 performances to notice!
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