IT’S a mixture of classical and popular when it comes to the theatrical backgrounds of the latest Sandy and Danny in Stephen Pike’s new production of “Grease”.
Rosanna Boyd, who plays Sandy, and Marcus Hurley, as Danny… undaunted by comparisons with the famous movie’s stars Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta. Photographed at Grease Monkey, Braddon, by Andrew Campbell
Boyd is a brilliant young classically-trained soprano and former St Clare’s pupil who recently performed in “Lovers of Song” for Artsong Canberra. She has performed in Canberra shows such as “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Chicago”, and starred as Marsinah in “Kismet” for Queanbeyan Players.
Hurley, whose dad, by the way, is the Governor of NSW, shone in economics and ancient history at Canberra Grammar School before changing to media studies at UC. A love of singing, from a boy soprano in Brisbane, has continued and he’s performed roles in Pike’s “Sunset Boulevard”, “Phantom”, “The Witches of Eastwick” and with Boyd in “Kismet”.
While they’re having a load of fun, they are undaunted by comparisons with the famous movie’s stars Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta.
They’re not even making Sandy Australian, as they did in the movie, but will revert to the original setting of the 1972 musical set in fictional ‘50s Rydell High School in the era where the “Greasers” spent as much time smoothing down the Vaseline in their hair as oiling the engines of hot-rods.
Boyd and Hurley have been researching the era in which “Grease” is set, telling me that the 1950s was on the cusp of change, on the very edge of a new era.
To my accusation that the musical says if you’re a square peg in a round hole “you’d better shape up”, Boyd tells me her mum feels that way, but she doesn’t agree. To her, it’s a case of boy-changes-for-girl and girl-changes-for-boy. And they both think Danny and Sandy will still be together after the story of “Grease” ends, probably planning another beach holiday, where the romance first started.
The musical, although a lot of fun, is not without a serious motif, dealing as it does with teenage angst, class conflict and gang violence. “Bad girl” Rizzo gets pregnant and that, as we now know, was no fun at a time when unmarried mothers were treated abominably.
Though it has a 16+ age recommendation, with songs such as “You’re The One That I Want” and “Grease Is the Word”, and snazzy choreography by Jordan Kelly, seriousness is unlikely to intrude too far into Pike’s production, which is Queanbeyan City Council’s annual-funded musical.
To Boyd and Hurley, “it’s just innocent fun”.
“Grease”, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, July 29-August 15. Bookings to theq.net.au or 6285 6290.
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