July 27, 2023 By Roy Harris
“Grease,” the classic ‘50s-rocker musical with songs like “Beauty School Dropout,” “Freddy, My Love” and “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” opens Friday and Saturday, Aug. 4 and 5, for a two-weekend run at Hingham Town Hall’s Sanborn Auditorium.
The latest Hingham Civic Music Theatre show features a fabulous cast, and songs made famous on Broadway–and in the 1978 movie hit starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John—about Rydell High School’s hard-rocking students. Book, music and lyrics are by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Veteran director Nathan Fogg is in charge of the Hingham version, with HCMT’s music direction by Kelley De Pasqua and choreography by Samantha Brior-Jones. Pat Sherman and Julie Collinge are stage-managing.
Starring as Danny and Sandy are Quincy’s Shaun Ormond and Norwell’s Maura McGraw, with Rizzo played by Hanson’s Bella Tatem-Welch and Marty by Quincy’s Kristina Day. Randolph’s Trevor Nataupski is Kenickie, who leads the song “Greased Lightning.” Hingham’s Max Wanty, as Johnny Casino, leads “Born to Hand-Jive.” Also from Hingham are Joao Henrique Ferreira Neto, as Sonny; Brendan Hone, as Eugene, and Angela Kathleen Diatchenko, as Cha Cha, with Hull’s Jasmine Netherwood playing Patty and Adam McDermott, of Quincy, as Doody.
Malden’s Rylan Vachon is Teen Angel, with Norwell’s Juliana Dennis as teacher Miss Lynch, and West Bridgewater’s Ethan Child as Vince Fontaine. Roger is played by Matt Kashdan of Dorchester Center.
Director Fogg calls the musical “a perfect summer show,” noting its nostalgic feel, and the familiarity of its music. “While it presents some controversial topics such as peer pressure, bullying and teen pregnancy,” he notes, “it wraps it all in a familiar bubble-gum/rock-‘n’-roll score that audiences love.” Hingham’s version includes some songs from the movie that weren’t in the original play, “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” for one, he adds. While the show is “dated” in many ways, says Fogg, “we hope to emphasize the universal themes of compromise and self-exploration, while maintaining the familiarity that makes ‘Grease’ a favorite with audiences everywhere.”
Hingham’s version, he adds, emphasizes youthful “relationships and compromise,” in which Danny and Sandy, for example, “change for each other” as they struggle to find their way.
The opening weekend’s shows start at 7:30 p.m. The second weekend’s shows are Saturday, Aug 12, at 7:30, with a closing Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25, with seniors and student tickets at $20 and group seats available for $15. Tickets are available in advance at https://hcmttickets.ludus.com/index.php, or are available at the door at Hingham’s town hall auditorium, 210 Central St. But all the excitement is on the Sanborn stage, inside.
—Roy Harris, who lives in the World’s End area, has been involved in Hingham Civic Music shows since 2003, when he sold his soul to the devil in its production of “Damn Yankees.