Pop Goes The World
If you didn’t have a chance to catch Rockbridge County High School Theater’s production of “Grease” last month, you really missed out on a fun and nostalgia-filled time. The drama students of 2026 transformed the stage at RCHS into the hallowed halls of Rydell High circa 1958.
Students of today taking on a musical like “Grease” might as well be performing a play that takes place in the middle ages. When the musical debuted in the 1970s, the ‘50s seemed like a time so far away. To conceive of a time when high school students didn’t come to school with a well insulated and most likely pricey water bottle must be a pretty wild concept. Why, when I was in high school in the 1980s, most students didn’t even have something to drink until lunch period. And we barely had enough time to eat our food, let alone sing “Summer Nights.”
Before this production, I had never actually seen “Grease” on stage, and it was a real novelty seeing it performed by actual teenagers. The movie version of “Grease” was released when I was in second grade. I was far too young to understand a lot of the jokes and sexual innuendo in the film, but I loved the songs and had committed the soundtrack to memory before I even saw the movie with my cousins at the State Theater nearly 50 years ago.
The movie gave me very high expectations for high school and I have to say when I graduated, I was very disappointed when the conclusion of my senior year was not celebrated with a carnival on Brewbaker Field.
There are many differences between the stage musical and the movie musical, but the plot is basically the same. A boy named Danny and a girl named Sandy meet up one summer at the beach and part company thinking that they’ll never see each other again.
But in one crazy twist of fate that only occurs in musicals, Sandy is transferred to Danny’s high school. Danny is a decidedly different guy away from the beach and has to maintain a certain level of cool as the ringleader of a somewhat goofy gang of greasers. Though he still cares for Sandy, she is too much of a goody two shoes to be his acceptable steady. Sandy finds herself in limbo at Rydell High, not quite agile enough to be a star cheerleader and too pure to be a Pink Lady, all the time longing for the boy at the beach who charmed her and kept her out until 10 o’clock.
Though the whole cast is to be commended, the two stand-outs were Presley Brzostek as Sandy and Sierra Hostetter as Sandy’s nemesis, Betty Rizzo. Both of these young women delivered power house performances.
Brzostek portrayed Sandy as both hopelessly devoted and admirably determined. I truly felt bad for her when she was stuck at home with a cold while her classmates were at a dance.
Hostetter took on the role of Betty Rizzo, a tough teenager who conceals the heart on her sleeve under her Pink Lady jacket. She belted out the torch song “There Are Worst Things I Can Do” with commendable confidence.
“Beauty School Dropout” has always been my favorite number from “Grease” and Tommy Davis was terrific as the Teen Angel who instead of being supportive and encouraging to Frenchy, played with zest by Celeste Jenkins, gives her a verbal dressing down.
Director Erin Allen deserves a great deal of credit for helming this production. It’s very clear that she has been a mentor to many members of the cast and her counsel has been a blessing to them.
I saw the third and final production of “Grease” at RCHS. After the curtain dropped, the cast could be heard exclaiming excitedly. When the curtain rose again, there were tears on the faces of the actors who knew this was the last time they’d trod the boards in the school auditorium. Perhaps they were wondering, like the senior class at the fictional Rydell High, if they’d ever see each other again after graduation. But if they believe in miracles, they’ll always be together.
Wah-ooo, yeah!
