Review by Paul Towers, 5/8/25
Grease by Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey
Directed & choreographed by Ryan-Lee Seager
Produced by Celia Mackay
At Kilworth House Theatre until Sunday 7th
September 2025
This year has been an especially good one for
musicals at Kilworth House. This season we have been treated to TWO big,
spectacular musicals. Earlier in the summer we had 42nd Street and
now, in the second half of the summer, we have got the ultimate summer loving
musical, Grease.
Ryan-Lee Seager (familiar to theatre-goers at
Curve) has stepped into the shoes of Kilworth House resident director Lee Proud
who has had to withdraw due to ill health. And a great job he has done.
As always with Kilworth House productions the
standard is high and Grease is definitely the word in this spectacular story of
American High School romance. Michael Nelson as Danny Zuko has charm and arrogance
to spare as he fights to keep his feelings for Sandy Dumbrowski (Lillia
Squires) from spoiling his street cred with his chums.
While the girls, The Pink Ladies, are prickly
and bitchy at first and close ranks they eventually welcome Sandy into their
circle. Betty Rizzo (Julia Imbach) and Frenchy (Millicent Blair) are the two
stand out members of the group. Quite often various girls get lost in their fantasies.
Teen Angel (a very camp Declan Egan) persuades Frenchy to give up her dream of
being a beautician to return to school.
Over on the boy’s side the throbbing testosterone
is somewhat channelled into their obsession with cars which leads to the
classic Greased Lightening (the battered old car’s name) as they cleverly
transform it into a gleaming chrome encrusted man toy.
The set is very clever and transforms into
various school locations and makes good use of the now legendary back wall
opening to bring in huge props like the car and stairs.
The choreography by Ryan-Lee Seager is, in
places, reminiscent of that of West Side Story, No bad thing
All in all the fantastic vocals and lots of
comedy make this an evening of outdoor theatre not to be missed. Summer Nights
have never been so magical.
Grease is at Kilworth House Theatre until
Sunday 7th September
https://www.kilworthhouse.co.uk/kilworth-house-theatre/
https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/
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