River Dell HS Becomes Rydell HS for 'Grease'

Performing on the stage can be complicated for the professional actor. So multiply that a few dozen times and imagine what it must be like for a high school student.

River Dell Regional High School put on the musical "Grease" this season.  It was a fun trip to a bygone era.

The pit orchestra was a small but impressive group of musicians, setting the tone for a terrific show.

"Grease" is best known as a movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John in the roles of leader of the T-Birds' Danny Zuko and conservative girl Sandy Dumbrowski (Sandra Dee). Big shoes to fill.

But junior Matthew Rivas donned a classic leather jacket and played the role of Zuko well, while junior Leah Feingold portrayed Sandy with excellent character.

Most of the musical numbers from the show are familiar, because the movie was released in 1978. “Summer Nights," sung by the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies as Danny and Sandy relay dissimilar tales of their romance, is a classic.

The cast was a well-rounded group of talented students.  Senior Madison Sylvester as Marty, Kevin Ng as the nerdy Eugene, junior Sam Surian as “Beauty School Drop-Out” Frenchy and Andrew Vega as badboy Kenickie gave heart and soul to their characters.

Junior Susan Lento as Rizzo has an amazing voice and did a fantastic job in the role Stockard Channing played in the movie (the bad girl with a big heart). 

The rest of the major cast as well as the ensemble performed complex dance numbers such as “We Go Together” and “Born to Hand-Jive” with a skill and talent that made it easy to forget these were high schoolers.

The sets, designed by Annie Arjarasumpun, were fun, including the paper-mache “Greased Lightnin'." The cast and crew obviously put a lot of time and hard work into producing a fantastic show that their peers and parents would enjoy seeing.

The program for "Grease" is full of personal notes to the cast from friends and family, and it is clear that a great deal of fun was had by all.