Bankstown Theatre Company (BTC) are currently celebrating the musical GREASE through a colourful and high energy revival. This 1950’s styled stage hit is familiar to many of us from the film release of 1978 starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta and remains a favourite several generations of fans.

BTC follows the trend of recent stage revivals by including songs inserted for the film but not part of the original show by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. In this performance the 1950’s musical genres are presented with desirable style by the band. Audiences will recognise the title track ‘Grease’ as written by Barry Gibb, Olivia Newton-John’s chart hit ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’ and ‘You’re the One That I Want’ from the film’s climax.

In a story with strong themes of conformity to cliques and maintaining the important veneer of ‘cool’, contrasting characters from this group of youth still emerge strongly. There is great use of the stage here and interest is maintained through variation of grouping and individual personalities across the cast in ensemble numbers.

Party scenes with the T-Birds and Pink Ladies in the outdoors or with vivid home sets have the warm vibe of peers surviving the pressures. This atmosphere is recognisable and valid decades later. It is genuinely portrayed and rewarding to watch. At school, the hectic ‘High School Hop’ and Born to Hand Jive’ numbers were standout group moments.

Meagan Fitzpatrick’s flirtatious Pink Lady Marty is well-timed, delivered in consistently fine voice and with precocious panache. Izzy Tilden presents a confident Rizzo, revealing subtle sneak peeks of her vulnerability in the compact emotional solo ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’. Stephanie Eid’s beauty school dropout, Frenchie, continues this gem of a character’s entertaining legacy from the stage and screen tradition.

This cast’s male greasers are believable and for the most part as strong as the Pink Ladies. They especially shine in song and with their handling of slick choreography. Claudio Acosta’s stellar falsetto and great overall tone in ‘Mooning’ with Zoe Martino’s charismatic Pink Jan is classic fifties fare. It is a highlight of the first act. Doody and Sonny as played by Jordan Janson and Donovan Cleary provide a suitable variety of character and much successful comedy within the T-Bird group.

This show’s ensemble is exciting, clearly directed and very well costumed. The ‘Beauty School Dropout’ scene dazzles with fantastic white outfits for all and modern tweaking of the Teen Angel advice. Angel Tom Henderson communicates with strong attitude.

The story originally was inspired by a multicultural school in Chicago. Whilst many of the cast sing and speak with acceptable U.S accents, some jarring sounds straying a long way from Illinois or even North America make their way to us. Some unfortunate opening night amplification issues marring clarity and balance between the band, ensemble and solo lines thankfully did not last beyond the two famous opening numbers.

Sweethearts Sandy (Jessica Williams) and Danny (Alex Jeans) are well suited. As with Kenicke (Steven Mcleod) and his chick Rizzo (Izzy Tilden) their stage presence is one of a playground couple to watch. The flashbacks to a summer romance for Danny and Sandy in scenes snatched together have genuine chemistry.

Danny’s ‘Stranded at the Drive-In’ has the right amount of teenage angst. Jessica Williams gives us a superbly graded, idealistic ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’. The final malt shop scene for the couple and cast is a fun treat. It could benefit from more predatory fire from Danny and Sandy, to mirror urges displayed by the full-cast during dance hop sequences.

This show in popular revival format brings much of what we remember from the twentieth–century movie fantasy. Whilst preserving the authenticity and medium of its stage history, it will attract die-hard fans, newcomers to the show, and even modern rockabilly lifestyle enthusiasts in 2015. GREASE plays at the Bryan Brown Theatre, Bankstown until March 29.

For more about Grease, visit http://www.bankstowntheatrecompany.com/