'Grease: The School Version' at Woodland - My Review

Woodland Theatre at Woodland Regional High School presented to performance of Grease: School Version this weekend. The book, music and lyrics were written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Both performances sold out and perhaps the group might consider adding back the matinee performance that they had presented in the past. There were rumors that their first try at selling tickets online had had some glitches, so I was glad to be able to purchase my ticket at the box office an hour before the 7:30pm scheduled curtain time. Perhaps these glitches explained patrons still being seated after the twenty minutes that the start time was delayed. Whatever the reason, it was no less annoying and caused me to miss most of the first scene. Even with a 20 minute intermission, we were out by 9:30pm.

Director Susan Cinoman likened approaching this production to working with a sacred text. The students "knew it, loved it, sang it, cherished it, every single day of rehearsal," so it must have been a joy for her to direct such an enthusiastic cast. That the school version is shorter and more suitable for teens (i.e. cleaned up language) did not seem to dampen their joy at performing this piece.

The excellent band that sat onstage featured talented young musicians and music director Sean Lewis on keyboard. The moveable set worked well and included a golf cart turned "greased lightening." Carol Schweid provided some fine choreography for the student dancers and Karen and Katie Steinbacher took care of the many needed costumes. "Drama Mamas" took care of a multitude of tasks, including decorating the hallway with fifties decor.

Sarah McVeigh was great as teacher Miss Lynch and Lily Fontaine was an adoring Patty Simcox. Jordan Williams was adorably geeky as Eugene and Kiley Soulier was just adorable as Jan. Erica Pellegrino played the flashy Marty and Matthew LaPorta played Doody. 

Catherine Pelkey can do it all and her Betty Rizzo was spot on. Patrick Vogel rose to the challenge of playing Kenickie. Charles Bethin played Roger and Nick Coehlo was strong in the role of Sonny LaTierri. Katie Steinbacher owned her role as Frenchie, the beauty school drop out. Vince Fontaine was played by Jeremy Edmond while Johnny Casino was played by Jimmy Jenson. The dreamy Teen Angel was sung by Donovan White and the lovely Kyra Conroy was a strong dancer as Cha Cha DiGregorio.

The large ensemble did a great job with all the Grease production numbers, especially "Born to Hand Jive" and the rousing "We Go Together."

In the lead role of Danny Zuko, Robert Wiener played the tough guy with a heart very well. His Sandy Dumbrowski was played by Karlee Vogel; her delicate singing voice was perfect for the role.