Grease is a 1971 musical with the aid of Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey
Grease is a 1971 musical with the aid of Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Named after the Fifties United States operating-magnificence adolescents culture known as greasers, the musical is set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School (based totally on William Howard Taft School in Chicago, Illinois) and follows ten operating-magnificence young adults as they navigate the complexities of peer strain, politics, non-public middle values, and love. The rating borrows heavily from the sounds of early rock and roll. In its authentic manufacturing in Chicago, Grease turned into a raunchy, uncooked, competitive, vulgar show. Subsequent productions sanitized it and toned it down.The display mentions social issues along with teenage being pregnant, peer strain and gang violence; its issues include love, friendship, teenage rebellion, sexual exploration in the course of childhood, and, to a point, elegance cognizance/class warfare. Jacobs defined the show’s fundamental plot as a subversion of commonplace tropes of 1950s cinema, because the female lead, who in many 1950s movies transformed the alpha male right into a extra sensitive and sympathetic person, is as an alternative drawn into the person’s have an impact on and transforms into his fantasy.Synopsis[]
(Because of changes to the musical which have been made for the reason that 1978 movie, numerous versions exist. In the occasion songs are listed at any given factor, the first is from the 1972 Off-Broadway model, and the second is from revivals that use the film track, along with the 2007 model.)
The musical starts with all of the solid coming to school and getting prepared in Rydell High School Class of 1959 reunion headed by using vintage maid English teacher, Miss Lynch, who sings with Patty and Eugene the college anthem (“Alma Mater”). She welcomes former cheerleader/yearbook-editor Patty Simcox Honeywell and sophistication valedictorian Eugene Florczyk. Eugene offers a rousing speech, mentioning that the alumni who’re missing from the reunion are absolutely found in-spirit. Suddenly, the greaser gang known as the Burger Palace Boys (recognized in later variations of the production as the “T-Birds”) and their auxiliary, the “Pink Ladies”, seem and recite their own parody of the Rydell anthem (“Alma Mater (Parody)”).
The scene fades into Rydell High’s first day of the new faculty year. The Pink Ladies take a seat inside the lunchroom, and the Burger Palace Boys sit down at the entrance to the faculty. There is a brand new female at faculty, Sandy Dumbrowski, who were unjustly rejected from a Catholic college. She describes to the Pink Ladies (Frenchy, Marty, Jan and Rizzo) how she had a quick love affair the summer time earlier than, which ended with unresolved love. In describing the fling, Sandy focuses on the romance, at the same time as Danny exaggerates to the alternative Burger Palace Boys (Kenickie, Roger, Doody and Sonny) concerning the bodily factors of their courting (“Summer Nights”).
The Pink Ladies soon after recognize that Sandy’s summer time fling turned into the equal Danny Zuko that attends Rydell High and arrange for the two to bump into each different at school; the resulting assembly is irritating and awkward, as Danny had previously informed Sandy that he attended a personal academy and does no longer want to confess to the Burger Palace Boys that she turned into the girl he became speakme approximately. As the Burger Palace Boys go away, Sandy is heartbroken, however the Pink Ladies calm her down and invite her over to Marty’s pajama birthday party. Shortly afterwards, the teenagers accumulate in the corridor as Doody shows off his new guitar. The rock famous person wannabe offers an impromptu concert in the corridor (“Those Magic Changes”).
At Marty’s pajama party, the ladies experiment with wine, cigarettes, and pierced ears; and speak approximately boys. Sandy goes into surprise from seeing blood while the Pink Ladies try to pierce her ears, leading them to mock her whilst she’s no longer within the room (in a few revivals, the song “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” is placed right here, mirroring the film). Marty tells about her lengthy-distance courtship with a Marine named Freddy, which it implied she handiest maintains due to the lavish gifts he sends her from Japan (“Freddy, My Love”). That identical night time, the Burger Palace Boys are busy stealing hubcaps and teasing Kenickie about his “new” used vehicle, Greased Lightning. An unfazed Kenickie firmly believes that with some enhancements, the car may be a racing-worth chick magnet (“Greased Lightnin'”).
Danny sees Sandy again at her cheerleader practice, and tries to make an apology for his conduct. Head cheerleader Patty Simcox interrupts and flirts with Danny. Patty informs Danny that music attempt-outs are nearing, and Danny tells Sandy that he’ll be a part of the music crew to prove that he’s sophisticated. After Danny leaves, Patty and Sandy practice their cheer choreography (“Rydell Fight Song”).
The Burger Palace Boys and Pink Ladies take their newfangled transportable radios for a picnic inside the park. Danny reveals to the relaxation of the greasers that he has joined the music team, an awful lot to their dismay and skepticism. After Roger and Jan bicker about food, drink and religion, she asks him how he earned the nickname Rump; he explains that, as “King of the Mooners,” he has a hobby of baring his bottom to unsuspecting victims, and within the method, both screen their affections for each other (“Mooning”). Rizzo teases Danny for falling for a female who resembles the excessively right teenage ingénue, Sandra Dee, and the alternative greasers join in as she makes amusing of Sandy, who has not arrived to the picnic but (“Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” turned into at the start at this point).
Sandy, running on a biology task with Eugene, comes in only as the greasers finish making fun of her, attacks Rizzo in a fit of rage and erroneously assumes Danny is the one at the back of the mockery. Furious, she tells Danny that she wishes she in no way met him and storms out of the picnic. Danny shrugs off Sandy’s negative reaction, and the greasers pair off for the upcoming sock hop. Danny teases Marty for not having a date (recommending Eugene), and the greasers all chortle, asserting that they’ll be buddies no matter what (“We Go Together”).
For revivals that use “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” the precise placement varies. It sometimes replaces the first rendition of “We Go Together” and in other examples, such as the 2007 revival, it’s miles placed early in Act II.Act II[]
It is the night time of the college dance where everybody is having amusing dancing inside the gymnasium (“Shakin’ At the High School Hop”). Sandy is at home with the aid of herself, being attentive to the radio and crying over how a good deal she misses Danny (“It’s Raining on Prom Night”). But in the faculty model, the two songs had been set differently.
Meanwhile, Kenickie comes into the dance together with his date, Cha-Cha DiGregorio, a beastly lady from Saint Bernadette’s Academy. Kenickie dumps his date Cha-Cha and pairs off with Rizzo, whom Danny entered the dance contest with, leaving Danny with Cha-Cha. The MC Vince Fontaine, a radio disc jockey, starts offevolved the hand jive dance contest, and absolutely everyone eagerly participates as he tags the contestants out (“Born to Hand Jive”). In the stop, Danny and Cha-Cha are the winners. Amongst the awards given to the couple, Danny gets two unfastened force-in movie tickets.
Sometime later outdoor of the Burger Palace hangout, Kenickie, Doody, and Sonny run into Frenchy. The boys are armed with an “arsenal” of family objects and screen that, to their wonder, Cha-Cha became the girlfriend of a person in the Burger Palace Boys’ rival gang, the Flaming Dukes. Cha-Cha informed the Flaming Dukes approximately how she danced with Danny, and, as a response, the Flaming Dukes challenged the Burger Palace Boys to a rumble. Danny sprints into the scene, carrying a song match after having joined the Rydell music team, to the disapproval and confusion of the opposite Burger Palace boys. Danny turns down their pressing invitation to the Flaming Dukes rumble because of time conflicts with a tune race, which he sprints off to.
The 3 closing Burger Palace Boys pass into the Burger Palace for a snack earlier than the fight, and Frenchy laments at what to do with her life, having dropped out of splendor school in frustration at failing all of her classes. The heavenly Teen Angel seems with a chorus of again-up singing angels and tells her to go back to school (“Beauty School Dropout”).
Shortly afterwards, the three Burger Palace Boys exit the Burger Palace. They anticipate the Flaming Dukes, however the rival gang in no way turns up. The greasers comprehend that Roger is missing. Just as they determine to go away, Roger sooner or later turns up with a car antenna as his weapon, and the greasers criticize him for displaying up so overdue with any such pathetic excuse for a weapon. Roger demanding situations the 3 Burger Palace Boys, who proceed to run off with Roger’s pants and footwear.
