Over in New Jersey, it’s still raining on Prom-Night, although the Greasers are not so Greasy. Still, thanks to the Paper Mill Playhouse’s program of musical revivals, it is now possible to open the closet and take a peek into the past. The theater’s recent revival of Oliver! gave its 21,000-Subscribers some time travel back to Dickensian London. Now, the high-powered current revival of Grease gives a Frankensteinian electric jolt to a vision of American high school days that oldsters may have thought were gone forever. But as Heathers, across the Hudson in Manhattan, also demonstrates, the high school cliques, the teenage rivalries, the lusts, the hopes, and the Dreams seem to live on and on in every new American era.
Years and years ago, when Grease began its long, long run on Broadway, I was transfixed by “It’s Raining on Prom-Night,” remembering how awful my own junior-prom experience was. But “Beauty School Dropout” was even more hilarious: If you couldn’t make it in Beauty School, what was left for you?
As for “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” what current high-schooler has ever even heard of Sandra Dee? As for poodle skirts? Please . . . Nonetheless, director Daniel Goldstein has brought the rock-and-roll Fifties—the era of Elvis and the advent of Frankie Avalon, as well as of Sandra Dee — back from the deep freeze into rousing life.
In fact, the sets and costumes are still “based on” the original designs of Derek McLane & Martin Pakledinaz, although the dynamic choreography is now the domain of JoAnn M. Hunter.
As Sandy Dumbrowski, the shy but lovestruck teen heroine, Taylor Louderman is superb, especially when she undergoes a stunning transformation into a femme fatale. Bobby Conte Thornton plays Danny Zuko, Sandy’s destined mate. He has good moves, though none of the Rydell High men really look like a Fifties greaser. In fact, despite the thorough involvement of all cast members, some must have been held back several semesters, for they look a bit too long-in-the-tooth for Rydell seniors. But Telly Leung is especially appealing as Teen Angel in the “Beauty School Dropout” set piece.
Some seniors in the Audience, who obviously hadn’t been high school seniors for decades, cheered the cast, possibly remembering the glory days of drive-in movies and curb service at long-vanished burger palaces.
