Grease a Revival of the 50's

by Patti and Ed Gallagher

The Steel City Theatre Company in cooperation with CSU-Pueblo Music Department presented a production of the musical “Grease”, opening on Thursday, March 19th at Hoag Hall on the CSU campus. It was an enjoyable presentation ending with a standing ovation. The show had many memorable moments, especially with much physical humor and wonderful dance sequences. The comic dialogue sequences, however, lacked snappy pacing with many deadly short moments of silence and were staged too far upstage away from the audience.

The show included a very large cast that caught the flavor of the 1950’s. Unfortunately, the diction of many of the cast was unclear although this did not include the enunciation of the leading characters, Sandy, played by Bethany Nafziger and Danny, acted by Curtis Fleecs, both displaying good singing voices. Bethany’s interpretation of the “nice” girl was underplayed but, at the end, when she was transformed into a much more appealing and aggressive persona, she was splendid. Curtis, the leading Greaser” was a consistently convincing character. Jenilyn Bartolo played Rizzo who succeeded in portraying a “naughty” young lady and did an outstanding job in singing and in preparing the audience for her transformation from the rivalry with Sandy to an influential friend. The singers were well prepared by Barbara Beck and the orchestra, directed by Alan Mills, was well balanced, never overpowering the singers. A few times it appeared that the microphone was turned off on the soloists making it difficult to catch the meaning of the songs. Especially effective were the dance sequences at the end of Act I and again at the end of Act II. There were so many characters that it would not be possible to review each, but outstanding performances were given by Jenni Barrett as Cha-Cha, Michaela Shults as Jan, Tanner Munson as Doody and very amusingly, the “Greasers”. There were excellent “cameo” performance by James Amos and Linda Harpel.

The setting, a large painting of a 1950’s juke box surrounded by staircases, was painted exquisitely but the use of the full stage of Hoag Hall was a mistake. Although it was intended to give space for the many dances, the forward part of the stage could have been utilized to greater advantage. Also, placing the wonderful orchestra in the remote part of the stage was a error because it should be a much more vital part of the production, not a necessary evil.

Grease will be performed Saturday and Sunday, March 20 &21, 7:30pm at Hoag Hall. Tickets are $5 and can be reserved by calling 719-289-0293.