Shake, rock, and roll! We started staging the show last night, and once again I have set us down a weird, wild road. The more I read about the original production of Grease, the more I see how much the creators wanted it to feel real. But because we've all spent our lives (or most of our lives) with the silly, cartoony Grease movie as our only point of reference, we're really having to consciously and with great effort put everything we know about the show aside and come at it entirely fresh. And that's not easy -- especially for me, who's seen the movie more than 60 times!
Yes, I am a bit of a freak. A bit? Shut up!
We spent some time at the beginning of the rehearsal last night trying to put away the cartoons and come at these characters the same way we would if we were doing Death of a Salesman or American Buffalo. The more we succeeded at that, the edgier the dialogue got, the more subtext emerged, the more surprises we found. I know you'll think I'm retarded or high when I say this, but there is a lot of depth in this script that nearly everyone ignores. And I'm not high.
Right now...
As we take this new/original approach, so many questions emerge... If Doody's mother "drags her ass out of bed" to fix him lunch only once a year on the first day of school, what does that say about his (and the others') home life? Why are all the characters names so ethnic (Dumbrowski, Zuko, LaTierri, DiGregorio, Rizzo, Florczyk)? Is that just because it's set in urban Chicago, or does it say something about class? What do the kids' questions in "Summer Nights" tell us about each of them? Why is Patty so needy? Who among these kids are virgins and who aren't -- and why? What do Marty's dozens of boyfriends tell us about her and her self-esteem? And her equating of love with gifts! What does it tell us about this world that both Rizzo and Sandy start fistfights? Why is Frenchy's fantasy dream man (Teen Angel) such a misogynist? If this is all in Frenchy's head, is this her own self-hatred we're seeing or is it her perception of the harsh sexism of the "real world"? (Take another look at that lyric and you'll see what I mean.) What does Sandy's transformation from one kind of role-playing to a different role-playing at the end of the show say about her self-image?
And the $64,000 Question -- Why is rock and roll so important to these kids? What does it offer them that they can't get from adult culture? (We could ask the same question today.) There's so much fascinating social commentary in Grease, and some surprising insights into American pop culture and how it affects us, both positively and negatively.
The one serious challenge I still have to grapple with is this: if we're supposed to play these characters as real as we can, how do we handle the very un-real convention of characters breaking into song? Do the songs act as commentary outside the reality of the scenes? Do the characters go inside their heads and become rock and roll stars when they sing? Some of the songs work like regular musical theatre songs, but quite a few are diegetic songs -- in which the act of singing is actually part of the action and the characters know they're singing (which is not true in most musicals). In "Magic Changes," "Rock and Roll Party Queen," and "Hand Jive," the singers are singing for the other kids inside the scene. In "Prom Night," Sandy is singing with the radio. But in "Summer Nights," they're not aware they're singing -- it's just the language of the storytelling... There's a key to all this, an internal logic, and I just haven't found it yet...
A lot of directors hit roadblocks or hurdles, assume the material is at fault, and they set about rewriting it. My experience has almost always been that the fault lies with the director and actors, and we just have to take the time to figure out what it is about this material we don't understand. I've learned, with Hair, Jacques Brel, A New Brain, and many other shows, that if you spend enough time and thought, you usually get over those hurdles, around the roadblacks, and you discover the show is actually much better and more skillfully crafted than you first thought...
Lots to still figure out (I so love that we have a long, leisurely rehearsal period)... But what a blast to discover that this show I've always loved has so much more depth and guts than I knew. This is going to be quite an adventure. I've gotten in contact with the agent for Adrienne Barbeau (the original Rizzo) and asked him if I could talk to her -- she may have some answers for me... I'll let you know...
Long Live the Musical!
Scott
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