It has played all over the world. In Spain, it’s Brilliantina, Scmiere in Germany and in Mexico, it’s Vaselina. Fo a global generation of early Rock and Rollers, Grease is the original high school musical, celebrating the joys and angst of teen life the 1950s.

“I think it may be the most popular American musical,” suggests show director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall. “Grease is the most successful movie musical of all time, and one of the most performed around the country with every production from high school, to college, to summer stock, to professional productions. Everybody knows and loves this show and relates to one of the characters.”

Named for the greaser youth subculture of the 1950s who favored “grease” in their hair (probably Pomade), in their custom cars and oozing from their feel-good foods of the era. Grease is set in 1959 at mythical Rydell High School and tracks ten working-class teens as they enter their senior year. Danny Zuko, who is shaking off a summer romance with pretty new-girl-in-town Sandy Dumbrowski, is the leader of the greaser T-Birds. Rizzo, the coolest chick on campus, leads their devoted girl gang, the Pink Ladies. When naïve, good-girl Sandy shows up at Rydell on the first day of school, their world spins off its axis.

When it first opened on Broadway, Grease was raw, high octane and a bit raunchy reflecting the cultural tremors of the late 50s primed to explode in the 60s. Grease deals with the unspoken social issues of the era, including sexual exploration, teen pregnancy, gang violence and emerging teen rebellion. Grease is the manifestation of how early Rock and Roll changed American culture.

The 50s generation was really the first to have their own sound. For the time, the music was hip, cutting edge and, some adults believed, dangerous. The coolest kids embraced the music and pushed the boundaries of the conservative social mores of the day.

According to Ms. Marshall, the original score is authentic, recreating the sound and feeling of those early years of Rock and Roll. “These songs are so wonderful. They have all the great beat and drive of the great Pop songs of the era and at the same time they are great theater songs because they really go somewhere — they have a journey to them, a beginning, a middle and an end.”

Grease started out in 1971 in an experimental theatre in Chicago where Jim Jacobs and William Casey staged a play with incidental period music. Producers Ken Waissman and Maxine Fox convinced Jacobs and Casey that it would make a powerhouse Broadway musical. The show was reworked and opened at New York's Eden Theatre on Valentine’s Day 1972 with Barry Bostwick and Carole Demassa as Danny and Sandy and supporting roles played by Adrienne Barbeau, Timothy Meyers and Walter Bobbie.

An impressive list of performers have appeared in various Grease stage productions including:  Peter Gallagher, Brooke Shields, Sam Harris, Debbie Gibson, Joe Piscopo, Sheena Easton, Treat Williams, Marilu Henner, Al Jarreau, Joely Fisher, Mackenzie Phillips, Jennifer Holliday, Christopher Atkins, Monkees Davy Jone and Mickey Dolenz, Manhattan Transfer’s Alan Paul, Brady siblings Maureen McCormick and Barry Williams, Chubby Checker, Sally Struthers, Jo Anne Worley, Megan Mullally, John Travolta (before he was cast in the movie) and Richard Gere (who starred as Danny in the original London production after understudying the lead role on Broadway).

From the time Grease opened on Broadway, it struck a universal chord with its compelling blend of teen trauma, a vibrant score and 1950s pop culture. It became the longest running musical until A Chorus Line knocked it out in 1984.

For many people, Grease is like a musical theater primer. It is the first Broadway show they have ever seen or it is their introduction to musicals, period.

“One special thing about this production,” Ms. Marshall explains, “is that there were four songs written for the film that were not in the original Broadway production and we’ve gotten permission to incorporate those four songs into our production. So, we’re the first Broadway production to use 'Grease is the Word' as an opening number, to use 'You’re the One that I Want,' 'Hopelessly Devoted to You,' and 'Sandy.'”

The cast is young and energetic and most were not born when the movie came out let alone the original Broadway production. Ms. Marshall researched everything about the 1950s—the culture, the music, the dance styles, the clothes and social mores of the time in order to immerse the performers in the period. The Rock and Roll beat of the score and youthful energy of the cast permeates everything about how the show is staged.

“There are a lot of people who know Grease the movie and not the show and vice versa and it’s kind of a responsibility because there are people who know and love the show, and you want to deliver the show that they know but also give them something new,” insists Ms. Marshall.” And, we’ve done that. It’s the Grease you know and love with a couple of twists and turns along the way.”

Grease, starring American Idol winner Taylor Hicks (seen center in the banner photo above) as Teen Angel, runs March 24 through April 19 at the Golden Gate Theatre.

To hear the Grease introductory podcast, click here.

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