For the purposes of this review, we were given free entries to Grease The Musical.
Going in the Millenium Centre already had us excited. We love that place, it is a phenomenal building and if you find the outside impressive, then you’ll find the inside breathtaking.
Picking up the tickets was pretty quick and simple. Then we headed over to the 3rd floor to have our complimentary drink, with 30 minutes to spare.
Once inside the Donald Gordon Theatre the energy was amazing. We were on a high, because this film reminds us of when we were younger and we used to watch it with such joy. From my side, I remember watching it in my bed and thinking how cool that high school was and how much I wish I would have been born in that era.
Background
This musical is based in the movie Grease, which is a 1978 American Musical Romantic film based on the 1971 musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. It is a story of love, revenge, change and above all true friendship. Sandy and Danny meet each other at the beach in summer time, they fall in love, they go to the same high school without realising and the story unfolds from there.
The show started and we were instantly blown away, Sandy and Danny’s voices are great. Sandy is played by Martha Kirby and Danny is played by Dan Partridge, Louis Gaunt plays Kenickie and Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky plays Rizzo. I’m not going to lie, because I’ve watched the film a few times it did feel slightly weird hearing the songs with a different voice, but that’s just because I had never been to the musical before.
I found myself constantly smiling like if it was the first time seeing this beautiful story. And we were singing along to ALL of the songs and we were not embarrassed at all, because like us there were more people singing their lungs out. We would like to take this opportunity to give credit to the live band, because they made such a great impact on the whole show. Having the live band brought us closer to the show, as we felt every beat and every chord in the music.
The cast did a great job in portraying their roles, their choreography was outstanding, the props, especially the projector screen right at the start which gave the stage the look of a 1960’s television. Their costumes were so on point, that you do travel back in time and grasp on the story in its full glory.
Some of the songs played in no particular order
-Hopelessly Devoted to You
-You’re The One That I Want
-Beauty School Drop-Out
-Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee
-Grease Lightning
-There Are Worse Things I Could Do
-Summer Nights
-Sandy
Overall
If you haven’t seen the Grease film, then get out from under that rock. Unless you are generation Z. And if you haven’t seen this musical, then you are missing out!
We would 100% watch it again. And we can certainly tell you, that even if you haven’t seen the film, you will want to go watch this musical again because it’s that good. It brought back so many memories. It made us feel happy and to this day, I am still singing their songs, even though it has been three days since we went to watch it.
The actors voices are amazing and I was truly transported into this era of romance, comedy and music. I think that wherever you sit in the Donald Gordon Theatre, you will feel the same energy throughout the hall. And it was nice that people were applauding, because I am sure, from the actors point of view this must feel like a job well done. The show had such a great energy throughout, that at that point you would not expect the ending to be as surprising as it was. The actors sang more songs and encouraged us to get up, dance and sing along too.
I think the Millennium Centre was the perfect place to end the Grease Musical tour for this year, because it gives people the chance to admire the charm this building holds and get blown away by the beauty of this city and it’s venues.
Cast
Martha Kirby as Sandy
Dan Partridge as Danny
Louis Gaunt as Kenickie
Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky as Rizzo
Jordan Abey as Doody
Kevin O’Dwyer as Chad
Ryan Anderson as Roger
Damian Buhagiar as Sonny
Eloise Davies as Frenchy
Natalie Woods as Jan
Tara Sweeting as Marty
Dale White as Eugene
Jessica Croll as Patty Simcox
Corinna Powlesland as Miss Lynch
Abigail Climer as Cha Cha
Darren Bennett as Vince Fontaine
Will Haswell as Johnny Casino.
Directed by Nikolai Foster and it is choreographed by Arlene Philips.
*Special thank you to Wales Millennium Centre for having us.*
Where to buy your tickets for Grease The Musical
You can book tickets to Grease The Musical on the Wales Millennium Centre website.
All thoughts and opinions are honest and 100% ours.
Thank you so much for reading.
Kay
