07 Aug Review: Grease
There are few musicals as instantly recognizable as “Grease.” Before the first note, the audience already knows the songs, the leather jackets, the summer romance and nearly every lyric in the book. The challenge, then, is not to introduce the students of Rydell High but to remind the audience why they fell in love with these songs and this story in the first place.
Theatre Aspen’s production, directed and choreographed by Patrick O’Neill, does exactly that. Overflowing with infectious energy, polished dance numbers and hyper-local touches to make the Roaring Fork Valley feel at home in 1959, this season finale embraces everything that has made “Grease” a crowd favorite for over 50 years.
O’Neill’s choreography is crisp and unabashedly fun, the energy spilling into the audience. More than a few theatergoers were hand-jiving in their seats, and joining in on the iconic choreography during “Greased Lightnin’.”
Christopher Robert Hanford and Nevada Riley anchor the production with an easy chemistry that carries Danny and Sandy’s romance from summer fling to final bows. Hanford brings plenty of macho swagger to Danny, complemented by Riley’s brilliantly balanced playing of Sandy from her tooth-achingly-sweet start to her edgy-greaser final form. The pair shine in “We Go Together,” where their chemistry is matched by the company’s energy.
The supporting cast is equally as strong. Alejandro Medina delivers standout vocals as Doody, making “Those Magic Changes” one of the evening’s musical highlights, while Kiki Lemieux’s Rizzo perfectly captures the sharp wit and confidence that have made the character one of musical theatre’s most iconic mean girls. Drew Redington brings grit to Kenickie, and the sweet chemistry between Semaj Donnell Byrd’s Roger and Evelyn Duggan’s Jan makes “Mooning” one of the production’s most unexpectedly charming moments.
O’Neill wisely leans into the comedy, including a local nod — “I had to go all the way to Snowmass to find a date!” — that earned one of the night’s biggest laughs. It is a small touch, but one that reminds the audience that they are experiencing theater in Aspen, which is undeniably “the most beautiful place to make art in the world.”
Visually, the production is the perfect amount of spectacle. Dustin Cross’s costumes immediately establish the iconic identities of the Pink Ladies and T-Birds, from the perfectly tailored jackets to the polished 1950s silhouettes. The production saves its greatest visual feast for “Beauty School Dropout,” where rhinestones, bubble crowns and local favorite Nina Gabianelli’s gloriously glittering Teen Angel transform the stage into a sparkly pink vision.
The musical numbers continue to impress throughout the second act. Danny’s “Alone at the Drive-In Movie” showcases both Hanford’s expressive performance and some impressively clean falsetto work. Under musical director Adam Beskind, the band carries the familiar score beautifully.
There is a reason “Grease” has remained a cultural touchstone for more than five decades. Its songs are infectious, its characters iconic and, when performed with this much heart, its sense of fun is impossible to resist. As Theatre Aspen’s mainstage season draws to a close, “Grease” feels like exactly the right finale: buoyant, colorful, joyfully performed and impossible to leave without at least one familiar tune stuck in your head.