Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. When Grease first debuted on the Chicago stage in 1971 – only a year before it moved to Broadway and became a phenomenon before its beloved 1978 film adaptation – it was about 12 years removed from its 1959 setting at the fictional Rydell High in Los Angeles.
Even then, it felt far removed from the cultural cycles that had come and gone in that dozen years – from jazz cool to the folk revival, the British Invasion to the hippie summers of love. Elvis Presley was still performing, sure, but he was no longer the heart-throb pin-up he once was. The times were a-changin’.
But the more things change, the more they stay the same. If you struggle to imagine what a 2013 musical might look like today, The New York Times critic Clive Barnes, seeing Grease for the first time in February 1972, was equally aghast: “They are starting to be nostalgic about 1959 now,” he wrote. “And almost all I can remember about it is that it was a great year for Burgundy.”
Curmudgeonly theatre critics aside, perhaps 12 years is longer than we realise – especially for the young. Maybe that’s why Grease has always felt less like a document of lived experience and more like a half-imagined snapshot of what the rock ’n’ roll era looked like, from its leather jackets to its poodle skirts.
It doesn’t matter if Grease gets every detail right. The reason it endures – whether in its countless global revivals or its innumerable high-school stage productions – is that it captures the broad strokes of youth, with a killer soundtrack to boot. Whether or not you agree with Sandy’s transformation at the end to please her suitor Danny Zuko, Hopelessly Devoted to You still rings true for anyone who’s ever been heartsick. Every young friend group feels like they’ll always be “together” as in We Go Together.
In the Dubai Opera production, running until November 2, I found myself less swept up in the central love story than in the supporting performances and the songs that aren’t as familiar as the biggest hits. Touring West End performers including Michael Dean-Wilson as Roger, Erin Corfield as Marty and Elliott Baker-Costello as Doody each stole the show when given the spotlight.
If you’re bringing your children to a musical for the first time, Grease is likely to get them hooked for life – and this production is as joyful as ever. The hardest part will be stopping yourself from singing along and dancing in the aisles. After all these years, that’s still the word.
