Go Greased Lightning!

We've had our first two rehearsals. Truly a great cast, fun, quirky, dirty-minded punks every one of 'em, all totally enthused about the adventure ahead and fully on board to shock the shinola out of our audiences by giving them this unconventional, non-traditional, incorrigable concept musical the way it was meant to be. See, people only think they know Grease... What they know is the watered down, castrated, beaten-and-left-for-dead Grease that has been masquerading as the real thing for way too long. Think of it as thetrical identity theft.

When the Traditionalists hear we're doing Grease, they all ask me (with just a hint of condescension in their voices) what New Line is going to "do to it." (We have a reputation for not doing shows the way everyone else does them.) The answer is that we're going to do Grease the way it was when it first opened in New York, back during the adventurous, over-sexed 70s, when it became the longest running musical in the history of Broadway. And I'll tell you what we're not gonna do to it -- we're not gonna dress it up in neon colors, put metaphorical lipstick and a nice dress on it, and make it act like a girl. We're gonna respect its Balls. And it's got Big Ones. We're going to let it be what it wants to be -- reeeeeally aggressive. Raw. Rowdy. Vulgar. Very Fucking Fun.

One thing I do know -- we'll be playing out in the house a lot. I just love playing around with the audience, running up and down the aisles, surprising them whenever possible, giving them an experience they don't get at the Rep or Stages or the Muny. And I think they enjoy it too. (Well, most of the time.) When we've staged shows like that in the past (The Robber Bridegroom, Bat Boy, Sweeney Todd, Hair, into the Woods), people are thrilled by it. I hope the same will be true this time. Grease is supposed to be an assault in many ways (like rock and roll was), so I'm gonna make sure we assault 'em. Those poor unforunate souls who've only seen this show in "Family Friendly" productions are going to seriously shit themselves. No, seriously.

If we do it right...

Long Live the Musical!
Scott