Program Note
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. It is so powerful it led to the creation of the musical, Grease, in 1979. The creators, Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, desired to pay tribute to a time when rock music reigned supreme, the late 1950’s. What started out as a showcase quickly turned into the full-scale story we know today. The story is set twenty years before it was written, giving its original audiences the nostalgic feeling they so desired.
Studies have discovered nostalgia tends to work heavily in 20-year waves. This partially explains why the greased lightning in a bottle formula of Grease being written in 1979 and being set in 1959 is the perfect formula for success. High schools often have era-themed days and dances usually set twenty years in the past. Movie remakes and reboots are often of films made 20 to 25 prior.
The subjects dealt with in Grease are timeless ones which help give the story a nostalgic feel. It opens the door for you to say, “I remember those days,” even if “those days” came at a different era than you than the kids of Rydell High. The subjects of sex, rebelling against authority, sex, the first car, graduation, and sex are all topics familiar to every teenager regardless of when or where they spent their teenage years. Choosing to glance at these topics instead of delving deep into the facets of them, Grease is structured as more of a party than art exhibit. This allows audiences to stay connected to the story and characters as a whole instead of feeling the need to choose a side or stance. Nostalgia has no bias and the story respects that in many regards.
While nostalgia does not take sides, the past is the past and not everything was as great as the upbeat feel of Grease may lead you to believe. One of the more problematic aspects of the show is its reflection of gender roles of the time. Great discussion was had with how to address some of the touchier moments of the show. Much was learned about both the past and present views and treatment of gender and great care was taken into both staging and choreography of these numbers.
Something we have also examined with our unique production of Grease is the rampant sexism and misogyny that existed not only during the time in which the play was set and the time it was written, but also the current time we live in now. We felt it was important not to ignore, but to confront the problematic aspects of the story head on. Therefore, some of the moments that are often done in a comedic and/or lighthearted manner are staged in a very serious way. This was done not to take the fun out of the show, but to respect the story as human one.
We did not want to ignore gender roles prescribed by society during the ‘50s, 60s, and today. Nor did want to pretend as if they did not and do not exist. We spent a great deal focusing on the stories of Sandy, Frenchy, and Betty Rizzo. Sandy is an immigrant from a country (Australia) whose view of women on television and film is vastly different our own. How does that mold her view of how the girls in her new school carry themselves and how the boys treat them? Frenchy is struggling in both her academics as well as her hopes to become a cosmetologist. As a young woman in the 1950s, how much pressure does this add to her anxiety as she strains to be respected in a society that is still sees women as little more than homemakers. And then there’s Rizzo. The fear she faces as possibly being pregnant is maximized by a culture that sees female virginity as being sacred and holds young girls to a vicious double standard which privileges men to pursue them sexually without fear of judgement. All of these situations were discussed extensively and handled with great care.
We deeply hope this production is enjoyed by all and hopefully provide a bit of relief from any current stress and negativity. Our hope is help you reminisce on a nicer time. It doesn’t matter if that time is yesterday, yesteryear, or twenty years ago. And if that doesn’t work, maybe in the future you can think back to this moment of newly created nostalgia.
Studies have discovered nostalgia tends to work heavily in 20-year waves. This partially explains why the greased lightning in a bottle formula of Grease being written in 1979 and being set in 1959 is the perfect formula for success. High schools often have era-themed days and dances usually set twenty years in the past. Movie remakes and reboots are often of films made 20 to 25 prior.
The subjects dealt with in Grease are timeless ones which help give the story a nostalgic feel. It opens the door for you to say, “I remember those days,” even if “those days” came at a different era than you than the kids of Rydell High. The subjects of sex, rebelling against authority, sex, the first car, graduation, and sex are all topics familiar to every teenager regardless of when or where they spent their teenage years. Choosing to glance at these topics instead of delving deep into the facets of them, Grease is structured as more of a party than art exhibit. This allows audiences to stay connected to the story and characters as a whole instead of feeling the need to choose a side or stance. Nostalgia has no bias and the story respects that in many regards.
While nostalgia does not take sides, the past is the past and not everything was as great as the upbeat feel of Grease may lead you to believe. One of the more problematic aspects of the show is its reflection of gender roles of the time. Great discussion was had with how to address some of the touchier moments of the show. Much was learned about both the past and present views and treatment of gender and great care was taken into both staging and choreography of these numbers.
Something we have also examined with our unique production of Grease is the rampant sexism and misogyny that existed not only during the time in which the play was set and the time it was written, but also the current time we live in now. We felt it was important not to ignore, but to confront the problematic aspects of the story head on. Therefore, some of the moments that are often done in a comedic and/or lighthearted manner are staged in a very serious way. This was done not to take the fun out of the show, but to respect the story as human one.
We did not want to ignore gender roles prescribed by society during the ‘50s, 60s, and today. Nor did want to pretend as if they did not and do not exist. We spent a great deal focusing on the stories of Sandy, Frenchy, and Betty Rizzo. Sandy is an immigrant from a country (Australia) whose view of women on television and film is vastly different our own. How does that mold her view of how the girls in her new school carry themselves and how the boys treat them? Frenchy is struggling in both her academics as well as her hopes to become a cosmetologist. As a young woman in the 1950s, how much pressure does this add to her anxiety as she strains to be respected in a society that is still sees women as little more than homemakers. And then there’s Rizzo. The fear she faces as possibly being pregnant is maximized by a culture that sees female virginity as being sacred and holds young girls to a vicious double standard which privileges men to pursue them sexually without fear of judgement. All of these situations were discussed extensively and handled with great care.
We deeply hope this production is enjoyed by all and hopefully provide a bit of relief from any current stress and negativity. Our hope is help you reminisce on a nicer time. It doesn’t matter if that time is yesterday, yesteryear, or twenty years ago. And if that doesn’t work, maybe in the future you can think back to this moment of newly created nostalgia.