Some people might believe that the message, if there is one, behind the musical “Grease” is that one needs to dress and act differently from one’s true self to get a romantic partner.
But that’s not the message Mandy Oliver, chorus director at Pioneer Valley Regional School and co-director of this year’s school musical, wanted to promote to her students. Nor is that simplistic message all there is to the stage musical.
Oliver quickly recognized that her students would know this and be able to see the musical’s value in its raw and rough-edged songs and dancing, if not its storyline.
“Our students are insightful and know that conforming to fit in is not what we would want them to do,” she says. “They could see the energy, free-spirited nature and the challenge of the musical numbers. We wanted them to have that experience. It’s one of those musicals that provides several great singing roles and dancing opportunities for a large cast. Its entertainment value can be seen in the fact that it is the most popular musical produced by high schools across the country.”
For years, Oliver and her wife, co-director Kimberly Rose, had been asked by both students and parents to put “Grease” on. Last June, they agreed that 2016 would be the year.
Performances will be held in Pioneer Valley Regional School auditorium today, March 17, at 6 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, March 18 and 19, at 7 p.m.
While it was an easy decision to select the school musical this year, casting was more challenging than in previous years. This was not due to lack of talent. Rose recalled casting, which happened in December.
“Our pool was so deep, it was difficult to decide who would get what part as we had more than one person who would have been good for individual roles.”
As in the past, Oliver and Rose tried to cast a bit against type or choose people who may be unexpected as a way to draw student’s talents to the surface.
Noting that their female lead, senior Kessandra Rooks of Vernon, Vt., as Sandy would be potentially a surprise, because she had not ever had a specific role in any PVRS production before, the co-directors saw her potential to play both the sweet and sassy sides of her character.
Rooks was “super surprised to be chosen” and felt “like she had big shoes to fill.” She auditioned initially with “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” thinking “deep down how cool it would be to play Sandy.
“I was nervous the first time, but when I got called back, singing the song a second time felt much better,” says Rooks. “I feel so grateful to Ms. Oliver and Kimberly to be the lead. It has been an amazing experience to have in my senior year.”
Creating chemistry between the two leads was important to making the storyline believable. “Dom (who plays Danny Zuko) and I didn’t know each other and hadn’t even really talked before, so it has been awkward at times.,” she says. “We have grown more comfortable so hopefully the audience can see it.”
Junior Dominic Lewis of Warwick says he feels much more at ease with the romantic aspects of “Grease” now than at the start and feels all the time spent together has helped ease any of the initial awkwardness of pretending to like someone that he didn’t know.
Senior Abby Hoisington of Northfield had also never been in any PVRS musical theater productions before. She was “discovered” by Rose at Fran’s clothing store in Greenfield where both were working over the summer. Rose was looking at some of the dresses as potential costumes when she casually mentioned to Abby that she should audition for “Grease.”
Discovering that she could indeed sing, act and dance, Abby, in her first and last musical at PVRS, is playing the cheerleader Patty Simcox, along with singing the opening song.
“The acting piece of this has been the most fun. I have enjoyed the back and forth nature of working with others and getting a chance to use different voices, attitudes and making people laugh. I am looking forward to being a goofball” says Hoisington.
Her sister Esther, an eighth grader, is playing Janie Casino, a character who entertains the students during the prom scene. She has enjoyed all aspects of performing, finding rehearsing to be more fun than work, and has liked the opportunity to do it with her older sister.
For Lewis, playing the male lead has been “very demanding due to the combination of having to sing, act and dance.” He loves the “bad-ass nature” of the musical and says, “I think “Grease” shows a side of high schoolers that is bold and edgy, and it is good to let that side of students out through theater.”
Sophomore Alyks Kostecki of Northfield, who plays Kenickie, also has always loved the musical. He says, “Even though I usually do a sport in the winter, once I knew “Grease” was happening, I felt like I couldn’t miss this chance to be in it.”
Natalie Foster of Northfield, an eighth-grader who plays Gina Florczyk, echoes what many of the cast have said, “I just feel really lucky to be in this production and am having so much fun. It’s like we are all part of a family and I feel very close to everyone.”
“Grease,” written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey with additional songs written by John Farrar, was first performed in 1971 and set in 1959 at a fictional high school located in Chicago, Ill., called Rydell High.
The storyline focuses on a group of working class high school seniors made up primarily of the “Burger Palace Boys” (aka“T-Birds,” as they are known in the movie) and the “Pink Ladies.” For viewers of both the original Broadway theater production and the 1976 Hollywood movie, the musical is filled with nostalgia, dated references and racy, sometimes racist and pejorative, language and dialogue.
While audiences familiar with the story of Danny Zuko and Sandy Dumbrowski can see it as a simple boy meets girl, boy loses girl, and boy and girl get back together story arch, “Grease,” more interestingly, is the first musical to have music and lyrics that reflect the rapidly evolving sexual world of teenagers.
Scott Miller in his book “Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll and Musicals,” believes that “Grease,” the stage musical, if not the movie, is not about Danny and Sandy (15 of the 20 songs in the show have nothing at all to do with the couple), but about “the way sex was changing and the part rock ‘n’ roll, cars and drive-ins played in that transformation.”
A cultural shift was happening in America and “Grease” highlights the shift from the conforming 1950s to the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Auditions for Grease at PVRS were in December and rehearsals have been happening five days a week for the past 12 weeks.
Because of the intense amount of singing, acting and dancing involved, all students were required to sign a pledge of commitment to be available for all rehearsals, unless sick or excused
Additionally, as in all their productions, Oliver and Rose made it clear that the environment for all cast members must feel safe and positive. “It is important for everyone to support each other, be kind with no put downs, and no divas are allowed,” says Oliver.
For both of them, as co-directors in several previous productions, finding a balance in their working partnership has been essential.
“Mandy is responsible for all the signing and music, while I do the stage directing, acting and making sure the students know where they are supposed to be” says Rose.
Both come with years of experience and training in the field of music and theater, with Oliver’s degree in professional music from Berklee College of Music and Rose’s time working at the Barrington Stage Company. Rose, a job developer at Turners Falls High School, admits that working together and being married to each other can require some limits, like not constantly talking about “Grease” when their day is over. She acknowledges this hard, especially when “one or the other is always coming up with new ideas for the production and wants to talk about them.”
Like many public schools’ theater programs, the budget was tight. For the first time in nine years, since Oliver has been leading the theater program, she asked each student in the production to pay a $25 fee to participate.
“It was not easy to do this,” reported Oliver, “but, like a sports team, we needed some more revenue to make this production happen.”
Oliver and Rose have had to rely on borrowing costumes, asking for parents’ or volunteer support or reaching out to the larger community for props, expertise and tech support.
The Northfield Country Club donated a golf cart that Erika Wood, parent of seventh-grader and ensemble cast member, Ceci Wood, is fashioning into a car for the “Greased Lightning” scene.
Leah Griffin, mother of another cast member, Mackenzie, is a stylist at Bobbie’s Hair Salon of Northfield and, as she has for past PVRS shows, will be doing all the hairstyling for the actors.
Larry Andersen, stepfather of cast member Emma Langston, is the set designer and her mother, Danielle Andersen, has helped out Oliver’s mother with costumes.
Robin Oliver, a retired owner of a bridal shop in Pittsfield and a professional seamstress, has been the primary costume mistress for all of PVRS’s theater productions over the past six years. Oliver borrowed some “Pink Ladies” costumes from her own high school’s production of “Grease,” some 19 years ago, and other costumes have come from Northfield Mount Hermon’s theater department.
High school teacher Gina Hammett is the tech director and choreographer. Despite a limited budget, Oliver and Rose felt it would be important to buy the rights to both the musical score from both the stage production and the movie so that certain songs that audiences expect from the movie like, “You’re the One that I Want” “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” “Sandy” and “Grease is the Word,” can be performed.
Other special features of this production have come from the creative talents of the students themselves. Senior Lane Roberts of Northfield, for instance, who has been cast as Rizzo and is a visual artist, has spent the last four months drawing caricatures of all her cast mates so that the start of the show will be like the opening credits of the movie with the drawings and the performers’ names scanned and projected on a screen near the stage. The credits will be synchronized with the song “Grease is the Word,” which will be sung by Abby Hoisington as she walks through the audience before the musical begins.
Senior Kayla Hubbard of Northfield has used her years of experience as a dancer to be a choreographer and dance captain for this production, in addition to playing Cha-Cha DiGregorio, and Delaney Archer, an eighth-grader and member of the ensemble, is in charge of the refreshment table, which will be selling snacks and candies that would have been popular during the 1950s.
To help raise money, “Grease” T-shirts, along with official Fox “Grease Live!” shirts from the recent televised version of the musical, will be raffled off during every show.
Deborah Potee is a freelance writer and photographer. She can be reached at dpotee@hotmail.com