Directed and choreographed Angus Jacobs and with musical direction from Julie Dance, this first-class production had tons of energy and bubbly performances.
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Well originally it was going to be West Side Story, but unfortunately, the rights didn't come our way. However, another 'young person's’ musical was available and so we decided to do Grease.
Hmm, how to do breathe new life into such an iconic and classic musical - especially when you are working with the society for the first time!
I was determined to cast the show as close to the playing age as possible, too many times have I seen Grease where the lead roles have been played by people just that little too old, I didn't want that and I also wanted to draw out the humour and the 'darker' storylines.
The lead roles were all young, fresh and energetic just what I wanted and the character parts were fantastic too.
Then we lost our Miss Lynch due to work commitments - we searched around for an appropriate replacement and couldn't find one. Then I had a brainwave - why not cast Miss Lynch a la Edna Turnblad in Hairspray? A man playing a woman - and so we convinced the Assistant Director, the late Gary Myers to do it ... and he did and almost stole the show.
Well in the High School Dance Off - I think he/she did!
The set was bought in and brand new, and designed like a jukebox that opened out to show the various settings. This was new to me, and working on a stage much bigger than the Bridewell was a joy!
I wanted to breathe new life into the choreography and was keen to avoid the standard "go greased lightning'" moves. However, that particular move is immortalised and expected so I included it once at the start of each chorus and then offered slight variations on the repeats, the rest of the choreography was created solely for BATS version of Grease.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with BATS, and look forward to doing so again - fingers crossed for Chicago in 2022. (postponed from 2020!)
All Photography by James Peer Photography