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Transcript
Grease
GREASE
THE OFFICIAL GRAND THEATRE STUDY GUIDE
CONTACT THE GRAND THEATRE ABOUT THIS GUIDE
471 Richmond St.
London, ON N6A 3E4
Box Office: 519-672-8800
Online: www.grandtheatre.com
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
About the Book, Music
and Lyrics
Jim Jacobs
Jim Jacobs, an American musical theatre composer, lyricist and
writer was born in Chicago, IL in 1942. Growing up Jacobs learned
to play the guitar and while attending Taft High School began
singing and playing with a band called DDT & the Dynamiters.
In 1963, Jacobs became involved with a theatre group where he
met Warren Casey, a man who he would later collaborate with.
Over the next five years Jacob appeared in more than 50 theatrical
productions in the Chicago area, meeting well known individuals
such as the Second City founder, Paul Sills. By 1969, Jacobs had
landed a small role in the film Medium Cool.
In 1970, Jacobs’ acting career took off when he debuted on
Broadway with the revival of No Place to Be Somebody and
continued on with the national tour. Simultaneously Jacobs and
Casey were collaborating on a play called Grease about teenagers
during the early age of rock ’n’ roll in the ‘50s. In 1971, the show
premiered in Chicago where producers, Ken Waissman and Maxine
Fox, saw it and then suggested to Jacobs and Casey that a musical
version might be more successful. Waissman and Fox agreed to
produce the show off-Broadway if they liked the end result. Jacobs
and Casey headed to New York where they collaborated on the
musical version of Grease which opened at the Eden Theatre in
Manhattan later moving to Broadway. The Show earned Jacobs
and Casey a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical.
Warren Casey
Warren Casey was an American musical theatre composer, lyricist
and writer who was born in 1935 in Yonkers, NY. Casey received
his Fine Arts Degree from the Syracuse University School of Visual
and Performing Arts in 1957.
In the mid 1960s, Casey met Jim Jacobs while acting in the
Chicago Stage Guild. The two began to collaborate on a stage play
called Grease which they eventually made into a musical that went
on to open on Broadway. The show earned them a Tony Award
nomination for Best Book of a Musical.
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
Casey’s acting credits include the original production of Sexual
Perversity in 1974 at the Organic Theatre Company in Chicago.
Casey also helped with the start of the Victory Gardens Theatre in
Chicago.
In 1988, Casey died at the age of 53 in Chicago after complications
from AIDS. At the time of his death he was writing a musical with
the Brazilian performer Valucha ed Castro.
About the Musical
Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey collaborated on a play that was
to be called Grease Lightning. The plot revolved around a group
of working-class teenagers known as “greasers” growing up in
the 1950s in an era of rock and roll. The show was to be set at a
fictional high school called Rydell High which was loosely based
on Jim Jacobs’ experience at William Howard Taft High School in
Chicago.
Greased Lightning premiered at the Kingston Mines Theatre in
Chicago in 1971. Two producers, Ken Waissman and Maxine
Fox, saw the production and agreed to produce the show offBroadway if the show were made into a musical. The team headed
to New York where they created the musical version, Grease,
which opened off-Broadway at the Eden Theatre in Manhattan on
February 14 1972. The show had immediate success off-Broadway
and the producers decided to move the show to Broadway. In June
of that year Grease, directed by Tom Moore, opened on Broadway
at the Broadhurst Theatre. After five months the production moved
to the Royale Theatre where it remained for seven years of its run
and then moved once more to the Majestic Theatre. The original
cast starred Barry Bostwick as Danny and Carole Demas as Sandy.
Throughout the run replacements included Peter Gallagher, Judy
Kaye, Patrick Swayze, John Travolta as well as Richard Gere who
understudied for many of the roles including Danny, Teen Angel
and Vince Fontaine.
The 1972 Broadway production of Grease was nominated for
seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Performance by a
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
Leading Actor in a Musical (Barry Bostwick), Best Performance by
a Featured Actor in a Musical (Timothy Myers), Best Performance
by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Adrienne Barbeau), Best
Choreography (Patricia Birch), Best Book of a Musical (Jim Jacobs
and Warren Casey) and Best Costume Design (Carrie F. Robbins).
Unfortunantely the production did not win any of the Tony Awards
that year. Adrienne Barbeau did, however, win a Theatre World
Award for her performance of Rizzo. Grease also won two Drama
Desk Awards for Outstanding Choreography and Most Promising
Costume Design.
The show’s content was raunchy, raw and aggressive tackling
issues such as teen pregnancy, teenage rebellion and gang
violence. Over time the musical has been changed and rewritten to tame down the content of the show and make it more
appropriate for a wider age range.
In 1973 Grease opened in London, England’s West End at the New
London Theatre with Richard Gere, unknown at the time, as Danny
and Kim Braden as Sandy.
After the show’s immediate success the musical was adapted into
a film version. It was directed by Randal Kleiser and Jacobs and
Casey wrote additional songs to be included. In 1978, the film was
released starring John Travolta as Danny Zuko, Olivia Newton-John
as Sandy Olsen, Stockard Channing as Betty Rizzo, Jeff Conaway
as Kenickie, Didi Conn as Frenchy and Frankie Avalon as the
Teen Angel.
Henry Winkler and Susan Dey were originally chosen to play Danny
and Sandy in the film version but both declined the roles. Winkler
decided not to take the part for fear of being type casted after
playing two similar characters, one being Fonzie on Happy Days.
Susan also declined after her manager advised against it. Marie
Osmond later claimed that she was also offered the role of Sandy
but had turned it down as she did not agree with Sandy having
to change in the end to get the boy. She later admitted to this
being untrue.
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
The movie was a huge success receiving five Golden Globe Award
nominations in 1979 and was the highest grossing movie in the
U.S. for 1978. With the film’s instant success, Grease was revived
yet again in 1979 at the Astoria in London.
In 1980, just two years after the release of the film, Grease closed
on Broadway after a successful run of 3, 388 performances. The
show became the longest-running musical until it was surpassed
by A Chorus Line a few years later. Presently Grease is Broadway’s
12th longest-running musical.
In I982 Grease 2, a sequel to the original film, was released. Very
few of the original cast members were in it and the sequel flopped.
There had originally been plans to create a multi-picture franchise
and a television series but after the poor response of the second
film all plans were cancelled.
In 1993, Grease was revived yet again in West End where it ran
until 1999. During this six-year period, the production split its run
between the Dominion Theatre and the Cambridge Theatre.
On May 11 1994, the revival of Grease opened on Broadway at the
Eugene O’Neill Theatre. The production starring Ricky Paull Goldin
as Danny, Rosie O’Donnell as Rizzo, Megan Mullally as Marty and
Hunter Foster as Roger, ran for a total of 1,505 performances
before closing in 1998. Brooke Shields also joined the Broadway
cast as Rizzo after first touring the show throughout the United
States. Other cast members on the tour included Sally Struthers
as Miss Lynch, Angela Pupello as Rizzo, Rex Smith and Adrian
Zmed as Danny, Trisha M. Gorman and Sutton Foster as Sandy and
Marissa Jaret Winokur as Jan.
The 1994 revival was nominated for three Tony Awards including
Best Revival of a Musical, Best Performance by a Featured
Actress in a Musical (Marcia Lewis) and Best Choreographer (Jeff
Calhoun). Similar to the 1972 production, the show received Tony
nominations and was beat out by other productions at the awards
that year. Brooke Shields won a Theatre World Award for her
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
performance of Rizzo and the production was nominated for two
Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical
(Sam Harris) and Outstanding Choreography (Jeff Calhoun).
The second Broadway revival which also received a Tony
nomination for Best Revival of a Musical, opened on August 19
2007 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. This revival was directed and
choreographed by Kathleen Marshall and starred Max Crumm as
Danny and Laura Osnes as Sandy. Crumm and Osnes had been
selected to play the roles after the hit NBC reality series Grease:
You’re the One That I Want! The 2007 revival included songs such
as “Hopelessly Devoted to You”, “Sandy”, and “You’re the One
That I Want” that had originally been written for the 1978 film. The
production ended in January 2009.
A similar reality show, Grease Is the Word, cast the leads, Danny
and Sandy for the West End revival that opened at the Piccadilly
Theatre in England in August 2007 and is set to run until October
2009.
Over the years Grease has become a staple show that is constantly
being produced all over the world at many summer stock theatres,
regional theatres, community theatres and high schools.
Play Synopsis
Setting: The play takes place at Rydell High School and follows the
senior year of the graduating class of ‘59.
ACT I
The play begins September 1958 with students arriving on the first
day of senior year at Rydell High. In the cafeteria the Pink Ladies
are found discussing their return to school yet again while the
Burger Palace Boys, also known as the “greasers”, on the other
side of the lunch room talk about their classes and the teachers
they have. As Marty, Jan, and Rizzo eat lunch, Frenchy approaches
with Sandy Dumbrowski, a new girl at the school. Rizzo, who
doesn’t want someone as wholesome as Sandy joining the Pink
Ladies, isn’t very welcoming but the other girls seem interested
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
in Sandy. Sandy goes into the details about her summer romance
telling the girls about her innocent summer love.
On the other side of the cafeteria where the Burger Palace Boys
are eating, the leader of the group, Danny Zuko, brags to the rest
of the guys about his summer love sometimes stretching the truth
to impress them.
Throughout Sandy’s story, Rizzo realizes that the boy who Sandy
fell for over the summer is actually Danny Zuko, who also goes to
Rydell High. She and the other Pink Ladies deliver Sandy to Danny
catching him off guard. While Sandy is pleased to see Danny again,
Danny blows her off in order to be cool in front of the guys not
wanting them to know that she was the girl he told them about.
Sandy is confused and upset about the way Danny greets her, and
the Pink Ladies decide to have a slumber party to cheer her up.
The girls spend the evening smoking, drinking wine and talking
about boys. Sandy feels left out and Rizzo pokes fun at Sandy’s
innocence. The girls all fall asleep except Rizzo, who gets dressed
and sneaks out.
Meanwhile, the Burger Palace Boys meet up with Kenickie who
just bought a car. The guys laugh and think it’s a piece of junk, but
Kenickie wants to fix it up and make it a dream car called Greased
Lightnin’. Rizzo arrives and drives off with Kenickie leaving the rest
of the Burger Palace Boys to walk home.
The next day, Danny tries to talk to Sandy while she is at
cheerleading practice with her new friend Patty. Danny tries to
apologize for the way he treated her, but Sandy responds to Danny
coldly. When Danny teases the girls about being cheerleaders,
Sandy accuses Danny of being jealous of the jocks at Rydell and
Patty challenges him to try out for the track team.
The Pink Ladies and Burger Palace Boys head to the park for a
picnic to talk about Frenchy, who has decided to drop out of Rydell
and enroll in beauty school. They also talk about the upcoming
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
dance, and who they’ll bring as dates. Danny announces to the
gang that he has tried out for the track team. As the group makes
fun of him for turning into a jock, Sandy walks in with Eugene, the
school nerd. Danny tries to act like he doesn’t care about Sandy,
but Rizzo teases him about falling for a girl who is so innocent and
pure. Sandy overhears Rizzo making fun of her and runs away in
tears.
ACT II
The gang all gathers at the high school dance. It’s being hosted
by Vince Fontaine, the coolest disc jockey around. Fontaine
announces that there’s going to be a dance competition, so
everyone is brushing up on their dance moves. Kenickie shows
up with his blind date, Cha-Cha, who is rumoured to be the best
dancer at St. Bernadette’s School across town. The dance contest
starts and Danny ends up dancing with Cha-Cha. The two end up
winning the competition.
The next day, Frenchy is at the Burger Palace when the boys walk
in getting ready for a rumble – it turns out that Cha-Cha is the
girlfriend of the leader of another gang, and they want Danny to
pay for dancing with her. The boys head out to fight and Frenchy
is left alone. She reveals that she has also dropped out of Beauty
School and now doesn’t know what to do. While she’s sitting there,
a guardian angel appears and tells her to go back to high school.
Danny, while alone with Sandy at the drive-in, apologizes again for
how he treated her and he asks her to go steady with him. Sandy,
thrilled, accepts until Danny tries to go too fast with her. She gets
upset and leaves him alone at the drive-in.
Soon after, there’s a party at Jan’s house. Rizzo is in a particularly
bad mood and picks on Sandy. Marty asks Rizzo what her problem
is and Rizzo confides that she might be pregnant. Marty, not able
to keep a secret, tells everyone at the party including Kenickie,
who thinks the baby isn’t his and leaves the party. Sandy tries
to talk to Rizzo and help her out if she can, but Rizzo gets mad
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
and calls her a goody-goody. Sandy realizes that in order to fit in
and be with Danny, she will have to change her prim and proper
attitude.
The guys are hanging out at Burger Palace the next day and find
out that Danny has quit the track team. They’re all excited to have
Danny back in their group and decide to go watch television at
Roger’s house. On their way out, they run into the Pink Ladies
who have brought Sandy with them. She is now a greaser’s dream
girl, wearing a leather jacket, tight pants and smoking. Danny
is speechless at her transformation and the two make up. Rizzo
announces that she’s not pregnant, and she and Kenickie also
make up. The gang is finally all together again.
Characters
Danny Zuko - the macho, cocky and handsome leader of the
Burger Palace Boys. Danny falls in love with Sandy Dumbrowski
during the summer holidays.
Sandy Dumbrowski – the attractive, wholesome, kind and innocent
new girl in town. A goody-goody who doesn’t smoke or drink and
is therefore teased by the Pink Ladies. She falls in love with Danny
Zuko during summer holidays and then is reunited when she enters
school at Rydell High.
Kenickie - a tough and sometimes rude member of the Burger
Palace Boys. He is second-in-command and a car fanatic. He is in a
relationship with Rizzo.
Betty Rizzo - the tough and sarcastic leader of the Pink Ladies who
smokes, drinks and is outspoken. She pretends that she doesn’t
care what people think of her yet has a vulnerable side. She teases
Sandy because she isn’t tough enough. She is in a relationship with
Kenickie.
Roger - a jolly, prankster member of the Burger Palace Boys who is
always full of mischief. He falls in love with Jan.
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
Jan – a funny and loud member of the Pink Ladies gang who loves
food. She falls in love with Roger.
Marty - immature but most attractive and oldest looking member
of the Pink Ladies gang. She likes older guys and uses her looks to
get them.
Frenchy – a fun-loving and foolish Pink Lady who eventually
drops out of high school to enter Beauty School. She is extremely
attentive to her appearance, well-meaning but an airhead who is
often off in her own world.
Sonny LaTierri - a big-talking and obnoxious, Italian member of the
Burger Palace Boys. A wise guy who thinks he’s a real lady killer.
Doody - the youngest member of the Burger Palace Boys who
worships the older members. Generally he is foolish and gullible.
Cha Cha (Charlene DiGregorio) – the best dancer at St.
Bernadette’s who wins the dance competition with Danny Zuko.
Johnny Casino – an all-American, rock-star student at Rydell High
School who leads a rock ‘n’ roll band. He thinks of himself as a real
rock and roll idol.
Teen Angel - an extremely attractive Guardian Angel who tries to
help guide Frenchy when she drops out of Beauty School.
Patty Simcox - a typical athletic, attractive, confident and peppy
cheerleader. Loud and over-excited and very unpopular with the
Pink Ladies. She is also nominated for Student Council.
Eugene Florczyk - a pompous but gullible nerd. The class
valedictorian.
Vince Fontaine - An egotistical and slimy radio disk jockey who
is trying to relive his teenage years and therefore is attracted to
teenage girls. A veteran “greaser”.
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
Miss Lynch - A grumpy, no-nonsense English teacher.
Pink Ladies – The greasers girls’ gang
Burger Palace Boys (later the T-Birds) - The super cool boys’ gang
of working-class “greasers-to-be.”
Historical Events in 1959
• January 1 - Fidel Castro takes over Cuba.
• January 3 – Alaska becomes the 49th U.S. State.
• January 5 – The children’s television show “Bozo the
Clown” premiers.
• January 25 – American Airlines is the first to schedule a
transcontinental flight in the U.S. of a Boeing 707 from Los
Angeles to New York
• January 27 - NASA selects 110 candidates for the first U.S.
space flight.
• January 29 - Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty is released.
• February 3 – Rock and roll stars Buddy Holly (22), Ritchie
Valens (17) and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson (28), die
after a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
• February 19 – Cyprus is granted its independence after an
agreement is signed by Britain, Turkey and Greece.
• March 3 – Pioneer 4 is launched and is the first U.S. probe
to enter solar orbit.
• March 9 – Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel Toy Co.
unveils the first Barbie doll at the American Toy Fair in New
York City. The Barbie Doll No. 1 is introduced by Mattel Toy
Company for $3.
• March 9 – The first known radar contact is made with Venus.
• March 17 – The USS Skate becomes the first submarine to
surface at the North Pole.
• April 1 – The St. Lawrence Seaway opens.
• April 3 – Charlie Brown, a song by The Coasters, is banned
by the BBC because it contains the word “spitball.”
• April 9 – American architect Frank Lloyd Wright-designer of
the famous Guggenheim Museum in NYC-dies in Arizona. • April 25 – The St. Lawrence Seaway linking the Great Lakes
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
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and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.
May 6 – British fishing ships are shot at by Icelandic
gunboats.
May 20 – Ford wins a battle against Chrysler to call its new
car “Falcon”.
May 23 – The Presbyterian Church accepts women
preachers.
May 25 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Louisiana’s
prohibition of black-white boxing is unconstitutional.
June 1 – Johnny Cash’s “Frankie Man’s Johnny” peaks at
#57 on the pop singles chart.
June 18 - A Federal Court terminates the law allowing
school closings to prevent integration in Arkansas.
July 4 – The Cayman Islands are separated from Jamaica.
July 17 – The oldest human skull is discovered. 600,000
years old to date.
August 14 - NBA basket ball player Magic Johnson is born.
August 26 - The first Mini Cooper automobile is launched
in Britain due to the gas shortage. It was called the Austin
Mini Seven or the Morris Mini Minor.
September 4 – The Song “Mack the Knife” was banned
from a radio station in New York City after many reported
teenage stabbings.
September 12 – The Soviet space probe, The Luna 2, is
launched for the moon.
September 17 - Typhoon Sara kills 2,000 people in Japan
and Korea. 840 people are left dead or missing in South
Korea.
September 22 – The first telephone cable linking Europe
and the United States is launched.
September 26 - A typhoon hits Japan, killing over 5,000
people.
September 28 – The U.S. satellite, Explorer VI, takes the
first video pictures of earth.
October 10 - Pan American Airlines become the first to
offer regular flights around world.
October 15 - Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, is born.
October 21 - The Guggenheim Museum opens in New York
City.
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
• November 1 – Jacques Plante is the first ice hockey goalie
to wear a protective face mask.
• November 11 – Rocky & His Friends, featuring Rocket J.
Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose, premieres on television
and runs until 1961.
• November 16 - The Sound of Music, a Rodgers and
Hammerstein musical, opens on Broadway at the Lunt
Fontanne Theatre in New York City.
• November 18 - Canadian Content Rules are introduced for
television.
• November 20 – Austria, Britain, Denmark, Norway,
Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland all sign the Stockholm
Convention to form the European Free Trade Association.
Undated Events
• Pantyhose are introduced by Glen Raven Mills.
• The first known human with HIV dies in the Congo.
• The Caspian Tiger becomes extinct in Iran.
Rock and Roll
In the late 1940s, early 1950s a genre of music known as rock and
roll was born. Rock and roll while evolved in the United States was
influenced by blues, rhythm and blues, country, folk, gospel, and
jazz to create a new sound. After the immediate popularity of rock
and roll the craze soon spread to the rest of the world which in
turn had a huge social impact. Rock and roll being featured in the
movies and on television at that time strongly influenced lifestyles,
fashion, attitudes and even language. Rock and roll continues to
affect and influence lifestyles and fashion to this day.
Early rock and roll in the ‘40s and early ‘50s usually featured one or
two electric guitars, a string bass guitar, drums and either a piano
or saxophone on lead. By the mid ‘50s guitars transitioned to the
lead instrument.
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
Disc jockey, Alan Freed, from radio station WJW in Cleveland,
Ohio is credited for first using the phrase “rock and roll” in 1951.
After playing rhythm and blues and country music for a multi-racial
audience he used the phrase to describe the music. Although
Freed made this phrase known among audiences, it had already
been used as early as 1935 in many lyrics in rhythm and blues
records throughout the United States. Freed also organized the
first rock and roll concert on March 12 1952 which was shut down
early due to overcrowding. Due to the concert’s huge success the
record industry began to understand that there was a white market
for African American music. Rock and roll took off and immediately
spread around the world. Freed continued to organize many more
concerts that were attended by both African American and white
audiences.
Rock and roll has helped to form many other genres of music such
as progressive, alternative, punk and heavy metal.
By the late ‘50s rock and roll was losing the rebellious feel that so
many were originally drawn to and it was back to business as usual.
Rock and roll had moved away from the raw and racy style that
had made it so popular and became tame, safe and was nothing
more than a catchphrase for teen music with a beat. Once having
done so much to break down the barrier between races, rock and
roll had now returned to mainly white stream music and targeted a
mostly white audience. The initial influence of R&B on rock and roll
had vanished and country music became the major source of new
music in America.
Although country music was the main focus in America, across the
Atlantic in Britain rock and roll was still very much on the radar.
England was not affected as much as there wasn’t around-the-clock
radio. Their exposure came from a few singles shipped over from
America and their government controlled the programming on
BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation). Britain continued with
the sound of the original rock and R&B creating a new generation
of British bands. Groups such as The Beatles, Rolling Stones and
Dave Clark Five soon made England the rock capital of the world
and by 1964 their music spread over to America creating an era
known as the British Invasion.
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Grease
Teen Idols
A Teen idol, usually an actor or musician, is someone who is widely
idolized by teenagers. Most teen idols are popularized due to their
good looks and in the 1950s were mainly males who attracted a
large audience of female teens because of their “sex appeal”. Male
teen idols were often advised to keep their romantic relationships
a secret and appear available as to not decrease their popularity
among women.
At the beginning of the rock and roll craze, Elvis Presley became
one of the greatest teen idols of all time. Due to his mass success
promoters quickly created teen idols such as Frankie Avalon and
Ricky Nelson. Teen idols were often featured in magazines and
were promoted on television on such programs as American
Bandstand, Soul Train and The Ed Sullivan Show.
Something Interesting…
1. Jeff Conaway, the actor who played Kenickie in the film
version of Grease, had to walk slightly stooped to make
John Travolta appear taller.
2. Olivia Newton-John had to be sewn into her pants for the
last sequence (the carnival at Rydell) after the zipper broke.
She was unable to remove the trousers until the filming of
that scene was over!
3. Carrie Fisher, best known for her portrayal of Princess Leia
in Star Wars, was considered for the role of Rizzo in the film
version.
4. After the motion picture had finished filming producers
felt that the movie was missing a strong ballad and the
song “Hopelessly Devoted To You” was then written and
recorded. Olivia Newton-John was brought back to film
her singing this song. The song was added to the film and
ended up receiving an Academy Award nomination.
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
5. The day that Frenchy’s bedroom scene was being filmed
when Rizzo sings a line about Elvis Presley, was the same
day he died.
6. Rydell High is a reference to the teen idol Bobby Rydell.
Questions & Activities
1. Write a review of the musical explaining aspects of the
production that you liked and didn’t like. Some things to
consider when reviewing are the costumes, set, plot and
the music.
2. Watch the movie with John Travolta and Olivia Newton
John. State the differences between the film version and
the play. Compare how characters were portrayed in the
film and how that differs from how they were portrayed in
the play. Were there songs in the film that were not in the
play?
3. Research fashion in the 1950s. Compare what men and
women wear today and how it is similar or different from
fashions in the ‘50s.
4. James Dean, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Ricky Nelson,
Pat Boone and Frankie Avalon were some of many icons
of the 1950s. Pick a 1950s icon and research their lives and
write a biography. Include important events in their lives
and how their work influenced people at that time.
5. Research popular teen idols of today. Compare them with
teen idols from the 1950s. Have teen idols changed over
the last 50 years? If so how?
6. Research dance moves in the 1950s. How have dances
changed throughout the years? Learn some ‘50s dance
moves and have a ‘50s themed dance.
7. In Grease Sandy feels pressured by the Pink Ladies to fit in.
Have you ever been in a situation where you felt pressured
into something that you didn’t want to do? What are some
ways that you can avoid peer pressure?
8. In the end Sandy changes her identity to fit in and win back
Danny’s heart. In your opinion do you think that Sandy did
the right thing in changing her image to fit in? Explain.
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season
Grease
9. Have a hula hoop contest and see who can hula the hoop
for the longest. You will need a hula hoop and stop watch.
10.During the 1950s music was recorded and distributed on
records. Research the journey from records to MP3s today.
Reference Materials
1. Information from Answers.com. Jim Jacobs. [Online] 8
May 2009.
< http://www.answers.com/topic/jim-jacobs>.
2. Wikipedia. Jim Jacobs. [Online] 8 May 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jacobs>.
3. Stage Agent. Grease. [Online] 8 May 2009.
<http://www.stageagent.com/Shows/View/727>.
4. Wikipedia. Warren Casey. [Online] 8 May 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Casey>.
5. Wikipedia. Grease (musical). [Online] 11 May 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_(musical)>.
6. Wikipedia. Grease (film). [Online] 11 May 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_(film)>.
7. London Theatre Guide. Grease. [Online] 12 May 2009.
<http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/londontheatre/whatson/
musicals.htm>.
8. Wikipedia. 26th Tony Awards. [Online] 12 May 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26th_Tony_Awards>.
9. The Internet Movie Database. Trivia. [Online] 23 June 2009.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077631/trivia>.
10.Timelines. 1959. [Online] 23 June 2009.
<http://timelines.ws/20thcent/1959.HTML>.
11.Wikipedia. 1959 in Canada. [Online] 23 June 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_in_Canada>.
12.Wikipedia. 1959. [Online] 23 June 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959>.
13.Wikipedia. Rock and roll. [Online] 24 June 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_and_roll>.
14.Wikipedia. Teen Idol. [Online] 24 June 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_idol>.
15.History of Rock. The Death of American Rock and Roll.
[Online] 24 June 2009.
<http://www.history-of-rock.com/indx.html>.
Grand Theatre Study Guide 2009H10 Season