In Review – Grease is the word at the Bristol Hippodrome

The Pink Ladies joined the Burger Palace boys as Grease returned to the stage with an outstanding collaboration of songs and dancing, that had the crowd on their feet and singing along for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

It’s 1959 at Rydell High and the guys and gals are back to school and preparing for the Halloween Ball. Danny, Kenickie and the Burger Palace Boys are joined by Sandy, Rizzo and the rest of the Pink Ladies in this age-old romantic classic about first love and teenage lessons.

The production was fantastic from start to finish. The hugely talented cast conveyed the much-loved characters to perfection, Ellie Kingdon wowed as Sandy and Dan Partridge as Burger Palace boys leader Danny Zuko was phenomenal but Elliot Gooch’s portrayal as loveable rogue Kenickie- was the standout performance.

Its also worth a nod to the brilliant pairing of Maeve Byrne and Josh Barnett as Roger and Jan – their vocals on ‘mooning’ a song for the stage, not from the film- was ironically- one of the best vocal performances of the night.

The fancy footwork throughout and the melodic renditions of familiar songs made for a fantastic evening at The Bristol Hippodrome. Firm favourites- You’re the one that I want, Hopelessly devoted and Greased Lightning had the Bristol audience swaying and singing along throughout the production.

Peter Andre, an epic casting as Teen Angel and Vince Fontaine, stole the show -his voice still sounds the same as it did from ‘The box’ in the 90’s.

The audience clearly agreed, showing their utterly delight at the heartthrob’s presence, roaring every time the Mysterious Girl singer appeared on the stage. His rendition of the Grease favourite BeautySchool Dropout was one of the most joyous parts of the show.

Peter Andre joined by the Burger Palace boys and the Pink Ladies made the whole audience Rydell High students as the curtain began to fall- The crowds joined in a sing-along to some of the most well-known songs of all time.

In all, the show is an entire success, a hugely talented cast is only complimented by fantastic choreography from Arlene Phillips, a brilliant orchestra display and a huge production set that transports you back to 1959.

But- it has to be said, aside from the songs that everyone could join in with, the pink ladies and T-birds in the audience tapping along and cheering through Summer Nights, the roar of the crowd when the full sized Greased Lightning’ rolled out on to stage- the best parts of the production were the undeniably enthusiastic, perfectly synchronised and energetic dances that lit up the stage throughout the show- even to the very last second as Kenickie split-jumped his way to the side exit.

Grease is definitely still the word.