Scott Weinstein's staging is far more knock-out than knockoff.
It is hard not to have low expectations for yet another revival of Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey's 1971 parody of/homage to late 1950s working-class youth culture and pre-Beatles American rock and roll. The show, a staple of community theaters and high school drama clubs, is packed with memorable mid-century American teen stereotypes (the bad girl, the greaser boy, the Sandra Dee wannabe) and lots of Top 40 radio knockoffs ("Summer Nights,""Greased Lightning,""We Go Together") that get stuck in your head after even lackluster productions (or a third, or fifth, or tenth viewing of the blockbuster 1978 John Travolta-Olivia Newton-John vehicle).…
Scott Weinstein's staging is far more knock-out than knockoff.
It is hard not to have low expectations for yet another revival of Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey's 1971 parody of/homage to late 1950s working-class youth culture and pre-Beatles American rock and roll. The show, a staple of community theaters and high school drama clubs, is packed with memorable mid-century American teen stereotypes (the bad girl, the greaser boy, the Sandra Dee wannabe) and lots of Top 40 radio knockoffs ("Summer Nights,""Greased Lightning,""We Go Together") that get stuck in your head after even lackluster productions (or a third, or fifth, or tenth viewing of the blockbuster 1978 John Travolta-Olivia Newton-John vehicle).…