Grease (musical)

For the 1978 film based on the musical, see Grease (film).

Grease
Original Broadway cast recording
Music
Lyrics
Book
  • Jim Jacobs
  • Warren Casey
Productions1971 Chicago
1972 Broadway
1973 West End
1979 West End revival
1993 West End revival
1994 Broadway revival
1994 US tour
2001 West End revival
2002 West End revival
2007 West End revival
2007 Broadway revival
2008 US tour
2017 UK tour
2022 West End revival
2023 West End revival

Grease is a musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Named after the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as greasers and set in 1959 at the fictional Rydell High School in Northwest Chicago[1] (based on Taft High School in Chicago, Illinois,[2] and named after rock singer Bobby Rydell[3]), the musical follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of peer pressure, politics, personal core values, and love.[3]

The score borrows heavily from the sounds of early rock and roll. In its original production in Chicago, Grease was a raunchy, raw, aggressive, vulgar show. Subsequent productions toned down the more risqué content.[4] The show mentions social issues such as teenage pregnancy, peer pressure, and gang violence; its themes include love, friendship, teenage rebellion, sexual exploration during adolescence. Jacobs described the show's basic plot as a subversion of common tropes of 1950s cinema, since the female lead, who in many 1950s films transformed the alpha male into a more sensitive and sympathetic character, is instead drawn into the man's influence and transforms into his wild, roguish fantasy.[5]

Since it was first performed on February 5, 1971, at Kingston Mines nightclub in Chicago,[6] Grease has been successful on both stage and screen, but the content has been diluted and its teenage characters have become less Chicago habitués (the characters' Polish-American backgrounds in particular are ignored with last names often changed, although two Italian-American characters are left identifiably ethnic) and more generic. The first Broadway production opened on June 7, 1972; when it closed in 1980, Grease's 3,388-performance run was the longest yet in Broadway history, although it was surpassed by A Chorus Line on September 29, 1983. It went on to become a West End hit, a successful feature film, two popular Broadway revivals in 1994 and 2007, and a staple of regional theatre, summer stock, community theatre, and high school and middle school drama groups.[7] It remains Broadway's 17th longest-running show.[8]

Grease was adapted in 1978 as a feature film, which starred John Travolta (who himself had been in stage productions in a different role) and British-Australian singer and actress Olivia Newton-John, removed the musical's Chicago urban setting, and changed some plot elements, characters, and songs while adding new songs and elaborating on some plot elements only alluded to in the musical. Some of these revisions have been incorporated into revivals of the musical. A 2016 live TV musical used elements from both the original stage version and the film.[9] A 1982 film sequel, Grease 2, included only a few supporting characters from the film and musical and had no involvement from Jacobs or Casey; Jacobs has gone on record to voice his disapproval of Grease 2.

  1. ^ Cat Gleason (2021). "Lincoln Avenue and the Off-Loop Scene: Urban Renewal and the Early Years of the Chicago Storefront Movement". In Jasmine Jamillah Mahmoud; Megan E. Geigner; Stuart J. Hecht (eds.). Makeshift Chicago Stages: A Century of Theater and Performance. Northwestern University Press. ISBN 9780810143838.
  2. ^ Defiglio, Pam (February 19, 2009). "Debate plays on for Chicago guitarist's induction into Taft High School's Hall of Fame: Group wants late guitarist added to school hall of fame". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on March 22, 2010. Retrieved November 27, 2009. Alumni honored in Taft's Hall of Fame include ... Jim Jacobs, who based his musical "Grease" on Taft High School Jupe.
  3. ^ a b Woulfe, Molly. "'Grease' has deep, dark Chicago roots" NW Times, January 2, 2009, retrieved January 10, 2017
  4. ^ Miller, Scott (March 30, 2007). "Inside Grease". New Line Theatre. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
  5. ^ Newmark, Judith (August 1, 2014). "'Grease' gets the splashy Muny treatment | Theater reviews". Stltoday.com. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  6. ^ "Night Scene: Women wowing 'em in the spotlights' glow", Chicago Tribune, February 5, 1971, p. 2-2
  7. ^ Time, May 26, 2008, p. 51: this musical ranked as the sixth most frequently produced musical by United States high schools in 2007.
  8. ^ "Long Runs on Broadway". Playbill.com. August 14, 2011. Archived from the original on April 20, 2009.
  9. ^ Rooney, David (January 25, 2016). "'Hamilton's' Thomas Kail Makes the Leap to TV for "Bold" Take on 'Grease: Live'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 3, 2016. What we're doing here is taking the spine of the film and then also having access to parts of the stage play.