The Ivoryton Playhouse, in a bucolic village of Essex, has cornered the market on musicalized urban teen angst. In recent summers, the theater has staged “Rent,” “West Side Story” and “Saturday Night Fever.”
Those shows are all set in New York City. “Grease,” which rumbles into Ivoryton July 5 to 29 is less geographically defined. The show’s creators, Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs, based it on their own high school experiences in Chicago in the late 1950s, but the long-running off-Broadway production reeked of New York or New Jersey, and the well-known 1978 film version starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John is clearly set in California. Some of the songs that were written expressly for the movie (including the Bee Gees’ title tune, which purports that “Grease is the word”) were shoehorned into the stage version when it was revised for Broadway in the early 1990s.
Ivoryton’s “Grease” marks a reunion for Johnny Newcomb and Alyssa Gomez, who appeared together in the playhouse’s 2016 production of “Rent.” In “Grease,” Newcomb plays Danny and Gomez is Rizzo. Another “Rent” face, Jonny Cortes (who played Angel) plays Johnny Casino. Kimberly Immanuel (who’ll play Sandy) and Cory Candelet (Eugene) were both in “The Fantasticks” at Ivoryton earlier this season.
Also found loitering in the halls of Rydell High this month: Natale Pirrotta as Kenickie, Katelyn Bowman as Frenchy, Alexa Racioppi as Patty Simcox, Amy Buckley as Miss Lynch, Lawrence Cummings as both Teen Angel and Vince Fontaine, Luke Linsteadt as Doody, Max Weinstein (from Ivoryton’s “West Side Story” and “Saturday Night Fever”) as Sonny, Taylor Lloyd as Marty, Taylor Morrow as Roger, Audrey Wilson and Shalani Taylor as Cha Cha, plus another six performers in the ensemble.
“Grease” runs (likes greased lightning) July 5-29 at the Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main St., Ivoryton. Performances are Wednesday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., with added 2 pm. Saturday matinees on July 7, 14 and 28. Tickets are $55, $50 for seniors, $25 for students and $20 for children. 860-767-7318, ivorytonplayhouse.org.
