Analysis Of The Musical Grease Film Studies Essay

Analysis Of The Musical filth Film Studies EssayIn this musical written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, it is 1959 and Rydell high is crowded with defiant, fun-loving students. In the middle of this landscape, Sandy Dumbrowski arrives as the new girl in school. It turns step to the fore that over the summer she and Danny Zuko, leader of the Burger Palace Boys gang, have had a shortened love affair. While Sandy tells her new classmates about the emotional amour she had with Danny, he makes of tales about the sexual side of their relationship. As the show progresses the kids at Rydell High have to deal with issues surprising to people who have a romanticized view of the 1950s love, gang violence, teen pregnancy, and friendship. In the end, Sandy and Danny thrash out their differences with each other and their friends and end up together and happy.I saw this production at the JSU/McClellan Theatre in Anniston, Alabama. The power point in this theatre is of the proscenium type. I t hink that overall, this is the perfect type of stage for this drama just now the arrangement of the theatre was a little lacking(p) for this production mainly because of the seating challenges. in that location were three scratchs of seating. The middle section was fairly large and centered with the stage. There were two sections on both side that hugged the wall. The section on the far right was behind the orchestra. The orchestra gem was not really a pit and was existently on aim with the seating. Therefore, those people in the rows behind the orchestra had a precise difficult sequence seeing over the musicians and instruments especially the harp that was used in this production. I know this because I was one of those unlucky enough to be posing behind the aforementioned musicians. I spent the merriment with my head angle at an odd angle trying to see around them. What I did have a good view of was the wing, stage left and regrettably I could see the actors getting re ady to make entrances and exits which ruined a little of the ambience. Had I been sitting in the center section and gain ground back I believe it would have been much more enjoyable.This play had elements of the realistic and the non-realistic. It dealt with very real themes such as teen pregnancy, bullying, helpmate pressure, drinking, and gang violence. The non-realistic bits were obviously the musical numbers. In real life, we do not just burst into song because we broke up with a comrade or girlfriend or had a teenage romance. The dictateds of this play were not what I would call realistic. They attempted realism but it seemed as if the cypher of the play and the way it had to be staged left them with no alternative but leave it slightly abstract. The sets were very basic and the car set used for the Greased Lightning and Alone at a Drive-In cinema numbers was very cartoonish. The costumes in this play attempted realism but fell short. In the dance scenes, the dresses loo ked like leftovers from a 1980s mall sale that had been re-cut in an attempt to make them look like they were from the fifties. The habiliments in the ahead scenes was a little bit better and circumferent to the true fifties flavor. The use of props was done well. The actors used actual props for the most part, there was very little miming of actions.This play was a musical with elements of comedy. The comedy was mostly verbal with subtle inflections of tone. There were a hardly a(prenominal) physical comedic elements mostly used by the characters of Eugene Florczyk and Cha-Cha DiGregorio, who did an sharp job making the audience laugh. The character of Jan played by Michelle Bain unite a few elements of physical with verbal comedy. Betty Rizzo, played by Judy Shealy was astonishingly funny with her dry quips and very sarcastic delivery of Rizzos best lines. This play was structured episodically.This play was very entertaining. There were a few elements of it that could be ta ken as social messages such as the drinking and insubordination that resulted in a pregnancy scare for one of the characters. The playwright and film manager seemed to work in beautiful harmony for this production. You could see that there was a lot of effort put into the acting and the direction. The letter from the artistic director that was printed in the front of the program gave a small amount of background. For psyche who was not familiar with the work it would have helped them to perhaps understand a little bit more of the motivation behind the play.There were several(prenominal) stand out performers in this play and also a few disappointments. Hands down Judy Shealys portrayal of Betty Rizzo was the show stealer. She gave the character real life. From the wisecracking to the gloomy and scared she made you care about what happened to her. Her performance of There be Worse Things I Could Do was one of the standouts of the play. As I mentioned earlier the characters of Eu gene and Cha-Cha played by Daniel King Jr. and Georgia machinate were wonderful. Both of these characters were very funny and entertaining. Jacob Cummings teenaged Angel was excellent. The Teen Angel scene is one that I rank among my least favorites and it unremarkably bores me, but I gear up myself loving this portrayal. Cummings sang excellently and lent a degree of humor to the role that was refreshing. Michelle Bain as Jan was some other standout. She is a very good comic actress and her affected accent was very funny. I was not however thrilled with Heather Garlick or Joshua Cody pass who played the roles of Danny and Sandy. These are the two main characters and should carry the show. I frame myself bored I am sad to say when they were on. Heathers performance as Sandy was wooden, one- dimensional and not at all believable. I found myself bored whenever she was on. Joshua Hunt as Danny was almost as bad although when he was interacting with the Burger Palace Boys he seem ed to shine a little more.The scenery was funky budget and it was obvious. It did detract a little from the overall performance. It was almost as if a high school had thrown the production together at the last minute as far as the scenery is concerned. The liberation was acceptable, but the band was excellent. They and the actors worked together well and there seemed to be no missed cues and everything flowed seamlessly.Overall, this was a very acceptable performance. The actors were as a all told very good, with the exceptions noted above. The band and actors worked flawlessly together and were very enjoyable. There was obviously a great deal of effort put into the stage dancing of the dance scene and it came off very well. It was a fun even out and certainly put a smile on my face. I came onward nostalgic for a time I was not even brisk to witness.Production DetailsYour nameCassie PattersonName of productionGreaseAuthorJim Jacobs and Warren CaseyProducing organization or the atre where you attended familiarity Actors Studio TheatreDate of performanceOctober 3, 2010 manner of performance (realistic, non-realistic, conclavecombination)Structure of the play (climactic, episodic, ritualistic,EpisodicEtc.)Form of the play (tragedy, drama, comedy, etc.)Musical spirit level space (proscenium, arena, etc.)ProsceniumActing styles (realistic, melodramatic, exaggerated,Realistic, comedicetc.)Style of scenic designs (realistic, abstract, etc.)AbstractStyle of costume designs (fantasy, abstract, etc.)RealisticStyle of lighting designs (realistic, abstract, etc.)RealisticProduction strengthDirectorKimberly DobbsScenic DesignerEric KeyCostume DesignerHayley Long, lettuce Payne, Sara SemmesLighting DesignerTerri SherrillStage ManagerPat Tiller, Chrissy Patterson, Cierra Parker, Tristan Waid, Janet Harbor, Tim Doyle, Alexandre de Lavalette