Theater Review: A freshened up ‘Grease’ at Selma Arts Center aims beyond nostalgia
By Heather Parish
Selma Arts Center’s production of “Grease” arrives carrying a fair amount of cultural baggage. Before opening night, I conducted an informal poll of theater and non-theater friends alike — OK mostly my group chats — asking a simple question: “Grease: Yay or nay?” The answer, unanimously, was “NAY.” The objections came quickly and passionately. “I’ve done it and seen it too many times to be interested,” one person replied. Another cited “philosophical/feminist objections to the treatment of Sandy.”
Fair enough.
Still, the curious (and admittedly oppositional) part of my nature arrived at opening night with one question: Can a story rooted in raunch and rebellion, satirizing the classic boy-meets-girl trope using catchy tunes, rediscover itself after losing its edge through decades of Broadway sanitization and bowdlerized high school productions?
Surprisingly, Selma Arts Center’s answer to that rather involved question is, “Often, yes.”
The oft-performed American songbook standard of bobby-soxers and delinquents follows sweet high-school transfer student Sandy Dumbrowski and swaggering greaser Danny Zuko as they attempt to reconnect after a summer romance. Instead, they collide with the social hierarchies of Rydell High. Beneath the pompadours, leather jackets and hand-jive nostalgia, however, director Summer Session-Plevney aims for something sharper than simple retro comfort food.
Reclaiming the edge of “Grease”
In director’s notes and in execution, this production attempts to “look beyond the version many audiences know from the film and reconnect with the spirit of the original stage musical created by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey.” Session-Plevney frames “Grease” as “a story about teenagers trying to figure out who they are while navigating a world that constantly tells them who they should be,” leaning into the show’s look at working-class youth “confronting peer pressure, social expectations and the growing pains of self-discovery.”
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Most importantly, the production refuses to completely smooth over the raunch, rebellion and sexual energy at the center of the material, elements often diluted by generations of school-friendly productions. Open sex jokes are billboarded rather than mumbled to the wings. The hypocrisy of purity culture becomes part of the comedy and acknowledging that being bad sometimes feels good gets treated seriously.
Session-Plevney also makes smart casting choices throughout this ensemble, highlighting the performance of masculinity and femininity in ways that feel organic rather than academic. Importantly, none of this distracts from the fun. This is not “Grease” gone didactic. It is still teenagers posturing, flirting and scrambling for status on the working-class streets of Chicago in the 1950s. But the wider range of voices and expressions gives the show fresh texture and makes its themes feel unexpectedly contemporary.
Strong vocals and energetic musical direction
Where the production truly comes alive, though, is in its music.
The choreography is snappy and energetic; it is not “A Chorus Line”-perfect, but better for it. The movement showcases the personality of the bodies doing the moving rather than sanding everyone into uniformity. The cast clearly relishes the score, and the wide variety of vocal styles brings freshness to very familiar tunes.
Vocal director Terry Lewis smartly plays to each performer’s strengths, creating a rich ensemble sound full of distinctive textures rather than interchangeable voices. Backed by a live band led by music director Jordan Williams, the musical numbers gain an extra layer of punch and cheeky rhythmic drive that elevates the performance considerably.
Fun character work throughout the ensemble
As Danny, Jimmy Haynie is strongest during the musical numbers. His voice fully matches his stage presence, filling the room with a rich sound that drops lower than any Danny Zuko I’ve heard before. It is a welcome change from the usual lightweight tenor approach to the role.
Opposite him, Catricia Alvarez’s Sandy is built less on wide-eyed fragility than attentive emotional presence. Her diminutive, pop-princess soprano contrasts beautifully with Haynie’s fuller sound, particularly in their duets. More importantly, Alvarez possesses one of the hardest-to-teach skills in acting: she knows how to sit still and genuinely listen onstage. That quiet attentiveness creates solid chemistry with scene partners and grounds Sandy emotionally even amid the show’s cartoonish excess. Her rendition of “Hopelessly Devoted to You” does right by the late Olivia Newton-John without feeling like imitation.
Several supporting performances add additional spark. Dylan Villanueva Hardcastle shows a lot of warmth beneath Kenickie’s “Greased Lightnin’” swagger, while Ke’Lea Flowers delivers a sharply cutting Rizzo whose insults land with satisfying bite. Zanna Wyant has tremendous fun as Marty, turning “Freddy, My Love” into a delightful girl-group bop full of comic personality.
Meanwhile, Shelby Manley (Frenchie), Savannah West (Jan), Toph Ortiz (Roger) and Joe Portela (Doody) contribute strong vocals and nicely defined character work as members of the Pink Ladies and Burger Palace Boys. Comic relief duties are handled enthusiastically by Justice as Sonny.
The production is also peppered with memorable featured appearances. Patty Simcox’s struggle between “popular mean girl” and “wannabe greaser-girl” is played with bubbly desperation by Ellyana Munoz. Avalon Lone makes an entertaining Johnny Casino, while Sean Torres is a scene-stealer as the towering Miss Lynch, and Soular turns siren Cha-Cha into a dance-floor diva. Most memorable among these brief appearances is Deysha Gonzales as Teen Angel, whose lovely, comedic take on “Beauty School Dropout” nearly stops the show, aided substantially by a gown glorious enough to deserve its own curtain call.
Uneven emotional momentum
If the production is most alive in its comedy and musicality, it falters somewhat in the dramatic direction.
Haynie soars vocally, but Danny’s emotional contradictions—his insecurity, sensitivity to peer pressure and performative masculinity—remain underexplored. Similarly, Flowers’ Rizzo lands her every insult, but the direction misses opportunities to reveal the vulnerability beneath the armor. This becomes particularly noticeable during “There Are Worse Things I Could Do,” one of the show’s most morally complex songs. The number reveals Rizzo’s self-knowledge and ethical grounding in contrast to the judgmental peers around her, but Rizzo’s emotional mask never slips. Those are just two examples from two of the cast’s more established talents. The same can be said for the production as a whole. Transitions from emotional songs into dialogue often lose momentum, causing the show’s emotional impact to sag. Every member of the main ensemble misses moments to show the turmoil their characters feel outside of the songs, so I wonder if the direction didn’t offer the space for this work.
Efficient, practical design
In terms of design, “Grease” is a big show with multiple locations, lots of costumes, a bunch of quick changes, a ton of make-up and hair, and typically a giant jalopy on stage. Sound (Ronny Bounthapanya) and lighting (Jeffery Purvis) do the job simply and efficiently while the set design (Christina McCollum) and costumes (Sessions-Plevney) have the feel of a cleanly built high school production. There’s a lot to get done in a production of “Grease” and this relatively small technical team gets there distraction-free. It still looks like the “Grease” of old, but it definitely feels freshened up.
Updating “Grease” without rewriting it (also: spoiler ahead)
Still, Session-Plevney makes several thoughtful directorial choices that address one of the central criticisms often leveled against “Grease,” including that aforementioned criticism of Sandy’s transformation at the finale. Rather than presenting Sandy as simply abandoning her integrity for male approval, this staging grants her clearer agency and ownership over her choices. It does not entirely erase the complications baked into the material, but it reframes them in ways that feel considerably more thoughtful and contemporary.
And perhaps that is part of the joy of watching young ensembles tackle old chestnuts like “Grease.” Contemporary productions can illuminate the themes and tensions inside these familiar works with greater complexity than audiences were offered decades ago. As long as directors resist turning something sweetly familiar into saccharine nostalgia, these revivals can still find genuine life.
Selma Arts Center’s “Grease” may occasionally wobble in the air, but it sticks the landing more often than not. With a diverse cast, sharper thematic instincts and genuinely exceptional musical performances, this production transforms “Grease” into something more relevant than it has felt in a long time.
“Grease” continues at Selma Arts Center through June 13.
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