About the Play:

Grease is a full-length musical comedy by Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs. Good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fall for each other during a carefree summer fling. But when the school year begins, Danny is torn between his feelings for good-girl Sandy and his image with the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies. Will they be able to rekindle their romance, or is the pressure of ones peers going to get the better of them?

Grease is a musical about American high schoolers that features music in the rock ‘n roll style of the 1950s. Here is Rydell High's senior class of 1959: duck-tailed, hot-rodding "Burger Palace Boys" and their gum-snapping, hip-shaking "Pink Ladies" in bobby sox and pedal pushers, evoking the look and sound of the 1950s in this rollicking musical. Head "greaser" Danny Zuko and new (good) girl Sandy Dumbrowski try to relive the high romance of their "Summer Nights," but when they get back to school, everything is different. Sandy attempts to navigate the tricky Rydell High School social waters and catch Danny’s attention again, but Danny is chiefly concerned with maintaining his tough-guy reputation. In the end, the Pink Ladies help Sandy figure out how to win back the leader of the Burger Palace Boys as the rest of the gang sings and dances its way through such songs as "Greased Lightnin'," "It's Raining on Prom Night," "Alone at the Drive-In Movie" recalling the music of Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley that became the soundtrack of a generation.

Grease opened in 1971 in a former trolley barn called the Kingston Mines Theatre in Chicago. It moved to New York at the Majestic Theatre in slightly altered form in 1972, and "Greasemania" took off. With an original Broadway production that ran eight years, a major revival that ran nearly four years, a third revival that ran a couple seasons, along with innumerable school and community theatre productions, Grease is among the world's most popular musicals.

Cast: 8 women, 9 men

What people say:

"A lively and funny musical-as well as the dancingest one in town. It's a winner [...] the songs are dandies [that portray] the early rockers with zip and charm. The sheer energy of Grease carries all before it." — New York Daily News

About the Playwright:

Warren Casey (1935-1988) was an American theatre composer, lyricist, writer, and actor. He moved to Chicago in the early 1960s, where he became heavily involved in the local theatre scene. He is best remembered for being the writer and composer, with Jim Jacobs, of the stage musical Grease. In addition to his work on Grease, he was involved in various ways with a number of Chicago theatres and independent writing projects.

Jim Jacobs is an American composer, lyricist, and writer for the theatre. Originally an actor, he has been seen on television, in motion pictures, regional theatre, national tours, and on Broadway. He is best known for writing the book, lyrics, and music, with Warren Casey, for the stage musical Grease. He remains active in the theatre, especially with the American Theatre Company of Chicago.